Canopic Jar
by Lady Aurora Nocturne
Summary: How the party came to acquire the odd artifact known as the Canopic Jar. Part 5 - Ashe and Vaan buy the Canopic Jar.
1. Horakhty's Flame

**AN**: This will be a four part story about the party acquiring the Canopic jar. The first three parts will be about the party acquiring Horakhty's Flame, Deimos Clay and Phobos Glaze. The party will get the Canopic Jar itself in the final chapter.

**Disclaimer**: Final Fantasy XII is the property of Square Enix. I'm not making any money from this and am just writing for fun.

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**Horakty's Flame**

Penelo held back a sigh as Vaan conversed with the petitioner. She wasn't optimistic about this latest bill posting Montblanc had given Vaan. The Marks they learned about from the little moogle were usually well worth their time, but she had her doubts about this one. This Seeq thief irritated her both by overtly flirting with Vaan in front of her and with her incessant blubbering, which was likely the only thing keeping the other residents of Lowtown from having her carted off to Nalbina. Penelo couldn't blame her for trying to avoid prison, but watching her use her dubious feminine wiles to manipulate others into helping her out of her predicament grated. It was her own fault that she was in this position, after all. Would she even have anything worthwhile to give them as a bounty?

As they descended into the stench of the Garamsythe Waterway, Penelo voiced her doubts to Vaan. "Can't you ask to see the bounty before agreeing to hunt the Mark? I'm worried this won't be worth our time."

"That's not how it's done, Penelo. Clan Centurio would get a bad rep if we only helped people who could pay a certain price. Mark Hunters get a bad rep, but most of us want to make the world a better place by helping eradicate the worst of monsters. We aren't like Headhunters, who are just in it for the money."

Penelo cringed, remembering Ba'Gamnen and his posse. "I think our favorite Bangaa headhunter gang is in it for the violence too." She quipped, making light of a memory that she still had nightmares about, but Vaan didn't need to know that. "But it would make sense for Mark hunters to require proof of a bounty, however small. We have to eat too."

Vaan snickered at her reference to Ba'Gamnen. "I doubt Montblanc would vouch for her if she had nothing to give us in payment." Penelo wasn't so sure about that, as the moogle's goal in life seemed to be to rid the world of nasty monsters, not to make a fortune.

After a couple hours of running around in the sewers without seeing any giant purple flans, the party began to get discouraged.

"Didn't the Seeq suggest that the creature has certain lecherous tendencies?" Balthier asked when they stopped for a break early in the afternoon.

"The Viera tell tales of creatures deep in the Wood who attack only males who invade our Wood, so it is possible that the beast here could prefer females. The Seeq's words suggest as much." Fran confirmed.

Ashe sighed. "Loathe as I am to spend any more time gallivanting around the sewers, perhaps we ladies should try to seek the creature out on our own." It was Ashe's fault they had to hunt marks right now anyway. It was only fair that she help replenish their funds after that little shopping spree in the Bazaar the other day. Penelo had noticed that the princess still had difficulty with the concept of budgeting, even after two years of poverty. If there was any gil to spare, Ashe found ways to spend it, if Vaan didn't spend it first. Thanks to the two of them, the group now had to scrounge around in the sewers to earn the gil they'd need for provisions to get then to Jahara.

After changing up their accessories to distribute the things that would be most useful for combating an overgrown flan to the female party members, Penelo, Ashe and Fran headed back toward the Southern Sluiceway without the guys. While they were gone, Vaan, Balthier and Basch were supposed to train against the other sewer monsters to get the lucrative items they carried to sell later.

All three women let out cries of disgust as the giant purplish flan plopped down in front of them. Penelo despised Flans more than any other type of monster. She'd had a bad experience with the icky green ones in those weird caves in the Sandsea. They reminded her of giant, living boogers and she loathed the slime she was always covered with after battling them. She'd never seen a purple one before, but the different color didn't make it any less gross. Its huge size made her want to run in the other direction. It must have been watching them from the ceiling all day as they searched for it. That was one of the worst things about Flans – they could stick to the ceiling and drop down on you at any time.

Ashe had no such qualms, as she rushed it and began trying to hack at it with her sword. She only succeeded in getting herself covered in slime and making the creature angry. Their blobby foe retaliated by casting Bleed on her. Penelo flung a remedy to Ashe as Fran shouted out that the creature was weak against Fire. Penelo backed up against the wall and prepared a Sleep spell as Fran fired fiery arrows at the Flan and Ashe did her best to shield herself against the agitated creature's attempts to assault her with its gelatinous bulk.

The Sleep spell was successful, and all three women started using Fire elemental spells on it. Penelo tried casting an Oil spell on it to increase the damage that much more, but the giant Flan was immune to that particular status effect. At one point, Fran darted forward with an empty flask and harvested some of the rare Slime Oil from the creature. They were lucky it didn't wake up when she did so. It never ceased to amaze Penelo how monsters could snooze through extreme magical bombardment but woke at the slightest scratch of a sword. She had to cast Sleep thrice more during the battle, as Orthros kept waking from its impromptu nap.

"Good thinking, Fran!" Penelo shouted before downing an ether to refill her depleted magical stores. That Slime Oil would bring a good price in the Bazaar. After nearly an hour of flame broiling Orthros, it finally succumbed and melted away into a puddle of slime on the ancient stones of the Garamsythe, before draining down into the sluiceway below, revealing the bundle of stolen goods they'd come for. Fran picked them up and cleansed them as best she could with one of Balthier's handkerchiefs. He wouldn't be pleased about that. When she was done, the items were still slightly slimy, but the thief shouldn't be too picky.

"Ugh, disgusting." Ashe grumbled as she examined the viscous slime coating her shield.

"Want me to cast a water spell on that?" Penelo offered.

"No thanks, I'd prefer slime to rust. I'll polish it tonight. Thanks for the offer." Ashe returned.

"Suit yourself." Penelo replied, casting a weak water spell on herself to rinse off the worst of the gunk. Fran did the same, but Ashe refused to, citing the iron parts of her armor that she'd have to meticulously clean later. For someone raised in ball gowns, the princess sure didn't have qualms about getting dirty.

"We should hasten our return so that we might collect the bounty before sunset." Fran commented.

"I can't wait to take a bath." Penelo commented. Said bath would be cold, as the party couldn't afford to stay in fancy inns with hot water right now, but the idea of being fully clean again sounded heavenly. Those long, heavenly bubble baths at the Marquis's estate in Bhujerba were naught but a distant memory now.

They encountered the men slaying Malboros in the next area over. They were nearly as dirty as the girls, and smelled a good bit worse.

"Did you get it?" Vaan asked.

"You bet we did!" Penelo crowed. "Now let's get out of here!" They trudged back through the sewers, returned the stolen goods to the thief, who gave them back to the original owner, Samal, in return for not turning her in. As it turned out, she had a nice bounty to give them. She gave them nearly 4,000 gil, a vial of unpurified ether, and an odd-looking earthenware jar that was strangely warm to the touch. Samal gave them a strange piece of an old medallion that had been charred black to thank them for their assistance as well. It looked similar to the dull medallion piece Vaan had found while playing with the sluice gates in the sewers a few days before, and Balthier suspected they were two pieces of the same whole. The thief flirted with Vaan some more before parting ways with them, hopefully planning to adopt some kind of honest profession.

Penelo wondered who she'd stolen the bounty from and whether they should try to return that as well. When she brought that up, Balthier pointed out that there was no way of knowing who the thief might have robbed, but that it was very likely imperial soldiers she burgled to get that kind of gil, as few Rabanastrans had that kind of money, and if they did, they hid it. Penelo never felt bad about imperials being robbed. The Empire had stolen their homeland; why should she care if this thief stole a little back from the occupying forces. It was no worse than what Vaan used to do in the Bazaar, though it was a much larger sum than he'd ever managed. It made her realize that for all his pride in his pickpocketing abilities, Vaan was just an amateur thief, like Balthier always claimed. She put concern about the thief's other victims out of her mind.

The party treated themselves to a warm meal at the Sandsea with some of the gil they'd earned as a treat. Tomaj was kind enough to give them a discount, as he often did. He didn't comment on their rank smell or disheveled, and, in the ladies' cases, sticky appearances. Tomaj was used to Mark Hunters and turned a blind eye to their uncouthness and smell so long as they paid their tab. Penelo found that getting a warm meal in her belly after a hard day's work felt nearly as good as a warm bath. The Cockatrice stew and thin, watery ale they ordered were the cheapest items on Tomaj's menu, but they were satisfying fare after a long day of flan hunting.

"Hey Vaan, what's in that jar we got as part of the bounty?" Penelo asked when she was done with her stew.

"I dunno." He shrugged before pulling it out of his bag and popping the lid off . A vivid yellow-orange flame crackled merrily inside the vessel. It had no visible fuel source, but it burned brightly.

"That explains why it's warm. But why did she give us a jar of fire as a bounty?" Penelo wondered.

"Beats me. Think it's worth anything?" he asked as he showed the rest of the table.

Fran plucked the jar from his hand to take a closer look. "Could it be?" she mused after examining it for a long moment. She plucked a shiny blue pebble out of her bag and dropped it into the jar. The table watched in awe as the flame consumed the pebble completely without producing a single wisp of smoke or leaving even a speck of ash.

"I believe 'tis a portion of the Fire of Horakhty," Fran pronounced. "I'll know for sure at nightfall. If that's what it is, it will turn black and become icy."

"Fire of what?" Vaan replied with a confused look on his face.

"Horakhty is the name of the sun god in Viera lore." Fran answered. "In times long past, he travelled down to Ivalice and shared flames from the sun itself with the peoples of our world. It is said those flames could burn through anything so thoroughly that it wouldn't' leave any ash behind. It requires no fuel to burn. Over the millennia, the flame he shared was split into smaller and smaller pieces. It was thought that they all burned out ages ago, but it appears that at least one portion still exists."

"Is it valuable?" Ashe asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind. The party members took turns feeding pebbles to the flame, intrigued by the fire's ability to burn stone as though it were straw.

"We will be hard-pressed to find a buyer who understands what it is, and who would also pay good gil for it, unless we wish to travel to Archadia to sell it to Draklor." Balthier replied. "I wouldn't suggest that. If you have to sell it, I'd just sell it to some peddler of curiosities for an eccentric collector to buy. I'd hate to see what the mad scientists at Draklor could develop after studying something like this."

"It may end up there eventually no matter what we do." Ashe murmured. "Let's keep it for now. I'd feel better knowing where it is for now. " The Archadian scientists could probably make some fearsome weapons after studying this kind of thing.

"Did you say that the fire gets cold at night?" Basch asked Fran.

"Indeed. The sun just set and it's turned black." The Viera confirmed. They all took another look inside the jar and marveled how it now radiated cold the way a normal fire exudes heat."

"I wish we'd had this in the Sandsea. It could have helped us cool down at night." Vaan grumbled, reaching in to touch the black flames, which didn't burn at night, and sighing at the pleasant cool sensation of them brushing at his fingers.

"Umm, I wouldn't touch that." Penelo advised.

"It's not hurting me. It feels nice!" Vaan defended.

"You didn't know it wouldn't burn you before you stuck your hand in there." The girl persisted.

"Quit being such a worrywart." The young hunter grumbled. "I have good instincts, you know. I was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt me."

"If you'd been wrong, you'd be missing a few fingers now." Penelo sniffed at her friend's recklessness.

"Right, whatever. Wanna feel it for yourself?" he asked.

"No way. I'm not sticking my hand in any fire, not even a cold black one! I saw what it did to those pebbles earlier! I like my fingers just the way they are, thanks." The girl insisted.

Ashe chortled at their bickering before taking the jar to feel the flames for herself. It helped Penelo remember that the usually serious and stoic princess was only a couple years older than she was. Gray blue eyes peered into the little urn in fascination as the flames danced harmlessly against her fingers. It was strange how the black fire still gave off light. It was an eerie, unnatural light, but light all the same.

Each party member touched the odd flames in turn, with Penelo finally caving in to peer pressure and putting just the tip of her little finger in the flames' reach. It was the oddest feeling she'd ever experienced. The tendrils of dark fire felt like cold feathers tickling the end of her finger. "If it burns through anything, why doesn't it burn up the jar?" she asked.

"This urn must be treated with Phobos Glaze." Balthier replied. "Phobos Glaze makes anything it is applied to nigh indestructible. The great artisans of Archadia used to produce it, but the art of making it has been lost. Once in a while a vat of the old stuff will turn up in the market, but no one's successfully replicated it in the past two hundred years."

"Huh." Penelo would never tire of hearing the odd anecdotes the sky pirates knew about Ivalice. She was learning a lot during this quest. She hoped she could eke out a living as a mage or a healer when this was all over, if she didn't join Vaan in sky pirating, as her skill with Magicks improved daily and she'd learned a great deal about treating wounds during their journey.

When the party retreated to their rented quarters in Lowtown, the ladies briefly squabbled over who could bathe first. Ashe won, of course, but Penelo decided she could just use the tub at the flat she and Vaan used to live in. She was still paying the rent, so why not use it? She hated spending the gil on a place they weren't using right now, but she thought it would be wise to keep it for when their quest ended. It didn't have running water, but Penelo didn't mind drawing it from the community well. It would be chilly either way. She could do that faster than Ashe could take her bathe, seeing how the princess insisted on heating the water in metal buckets as best she could with fire spells. For someone who didn't mind getting dirty, Ashe sure was picky about bathing. Penelo didn't care if the water was cold; she just wanted to get the foul slime off her body. It wasn't possible to battle a flan without getting goo all over one's body. She'd need to wash her clothes too. She hoped she never saw another flan!

The following morning, Penelo and Fran went to sell the loot the men had collected the previous day as well as the slime oil the Viera had collected from Orthros while the rest of the party went on another hunt in the Estersand. They made more than enough gil to fund the trip to Jahara, though Penelo still wasn't entirely sure why they were going there.

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So, what did you think? Make my day by leaving me a review, pretty please! :3 I'm hoping to write the second part of this about Deimos Clay sometime soon!


	2. Deimos Clay

**Deimos Clay**

"Umm, can someone please explain to me why we're hunting a chocobo?" Penelo asked as the party moved down the steep path from Mt. Bur-Omisace into the Paramina Rift.

"Cause it's super rare and we'll be legends among Mark Hunters if we bring it down." Vaan replied like it was a stupid question.

"But it's a chocobo! I don't get why Gurdy petitioned for the Hunt after it saved her life! This poor chocobo saves her sorry hide and she repays it by letting an entire clan of Mark Hunters know where it is and then offers a reward for whoever kills it? That's just wrong." She sulked.

"You can stay here at the mountain if you don't want to be involved. We need the gil from the bounty. We're low on potions again and must buy more now that Lord Larsa isn't here to supply us." Ashe replied. The Archadian prince's habit of carrying absurd numbers of potions had come in handy while he was with them.

"Remember that not all chocobos are friendly, Penelo. You didn't have a problem with fighting those nasty black ones that attacked us back on the Ozmone Plain." Balthier pointed out.

"But this one has been helping people! Those black ones were mean! It's completely different!" Penelo protested as she dispatched a dark skeleton with a Fira spell. She was a little disappointed to see that its skull was in perfect condition after it was vanquished. She knew death's-heads sold for good gil in the market, but couldn't quite bring herself to pick it up. It felt perverse somehow to cart around the skull of some long dead soldier, even if said soldier's reanimated skeleton had just attacked her.

Ashe had no such qualms. The princess marched over, picked up the blackened skull and a handful of other leftover bones, and popped them in her bag without the least hesitation. "Why are you so squeamish today?" she asked the younger girl with a stern look. "First you're against hunting a chocobo, now you're refusing to pick up loot. What's gotten into you?"

Penelo sighed. She wasn't in the mood for another argument. Ashe had been snarky lately and had been starting arguments at the slightest provocation for days. Seeing the atrocities the Empire committed at Mt. Bur-Omisace a few days before had affected her more than she wanted to let on. She also claimed that she'd seen Prince Rasler's ghost again in the Stilshrine of Miriam when they found the Sword of Kings. The rest of the party had been pretty peeved with Ashe's refusal to destroy the now-useless Dawn Shard to test the sword. The princess claimed that the spirit had indicated that she shouldn't destroy the nethecite. No amount of arguing could convince her to do so.

They were all wondering if the princess might be going mad. Seeing things that no one else could was never a good sign. It was possible that the trauma of their recent adventures had pushed the young woman over the edge. She'd already lost so much; it couldn't be easy to deal with the stress of this quest. Of course, no one voiced their concerns to Ashe, as she got snarly and defensive anytime anyone was critical of anything she did. Life was hard enough for the party right now without Ashe being in a rage, so they avoided upsetting her.

"It's been a rough few days is all." The orphan finally said once the silence became awkward. "I still don't like the thing with the chocobo though." She wasn't backing down on this one. Her father, may he rest in peace, had taught her that she should always obey her conscience, even if everyone else disagreed with her.

"Then go help out at the refugee camp while the rest of us hunt it!" Ashe snapped. The events of the past few days had rattled her much more than she wanted to admit. The news about the Archadian emperor's untimely death made things that much worse. Vayne was in control now. She had to hope that little Larsa was resourceful enough to outwit his treacherous older brother and keep her hopes for restoring Dalmasca alive. The young prince had told her that if he came to power he'd be happy to restore her kingdom. She wasn't terribly optimistic about young Larsa's chances. He'd have to kill his brother to wrest power from his hands, and the boy seemed too kind and too fond of Vayne to ever do something like that. She doubted Vayne would hesitate about killing Larsa if it came to that.

Penelo didn't reply. She knew she could put her skills to use healing injuries at the refugee camp or casting Water spells on the fires that were still burning from the imperial attack, but she didn't want to go back. Mt. Bur-Omisace was too depressing for her right now, and she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts on the trek back. She was really worried about Larsa. She knew the kid had a crush on her, but it wasn't annoying. His chivalrous behavior toward her had been endearing, even if she only saw him as a younger brother, like Kytes. If she went back up the mountain, she'd spend the whole day worrying about her imperial friend and she wouldn't be able to help the other party members if they got hurt on this stupid chocobo hunt.

"How 'bout you just focus on healing the rest of us while we fight the Trickster?" Vaan suggested as a compromise. He wasn't wild about the idea of Penelo going back up the mountain alone. She was already in a broody mood, and being alone was never good for her when she got like that. He wished Ashe would quit snarking at everyone. They were under enough stress without conflict between party members.

"Oh, alright." Penelo agreed, still unhappy with the plan.

"Perhaps it will attack us first." Basch pointed out. "This subspecies of chocobo has the reputation for being aggressive toward humes. This one might have saved Gurdy, but it killed the bandits who were attacking her and her chocobos. Gurdy was travelling with a group of chocobos, remember. The Trickster was probably only trying to assist its own kind and helping Gurdy was a side effect of that. We might be assisting the refugees and other travelers in the area by eliminating it." He reasoned, trying to make Penelo feel better. He respected that she was sticking up for what she believed, but doubted the chocobo in question was as friendly as she wanted to think.

Vaan's fellow Mark Hunter, Monid, met them by the frozen brook at the base of the slope. He claimed that the legendary Chocobo was nearby and joined them in searching for it. They dispatched what enemies they saw as they searched for the bird.

As it turned out, the Trickster found them, and as Basch had predicted, it attacked first, walloping Ashe in the gut with its formidable beak. It was the largest and most beautiful chocobo any of them had ever seen, and it was definitely aggressive. Penelo cast a Dispel spell on it to remove its magical protections so that her friends would have a better chance against it. She set aside her personal frustration and sent a Cura Ashe's way to undo the damage the bird had done. Unfortunately, her use of magicks drew the attention of a nearby ice elemental.

"I'm gonna take care of this thing!" Penelo called out to the others as she cast the first of what would likely be many Thundara spells on the elemental.

"Good plan!" Balthier replied. He paused just long enough to steal an Ice crystal from the flying blob of ice before aiming his gun at a nearby white wolf.

Ashe, Vaan, Basch and Monid chased the Trickster into a narrow corner of the canyon and hacked away at it.

"Our time would be better spent dispatching the other foes in this area." Fran opined to her fellow sky pirate. "The four of them should be able to handle a chocobo, even a large one like that." Having too many combatants battling a single enemy could be disastrous, as they got in each other's way and could end up harming each other. She began hurling Thundara spells at the elemental. Balthier, who didn't generally use magicks in battle, did the same, though his spells were a good bit weaker.

Meanwhile, Vaan was beginning to have second thoughts about felling this chocobo. A few minutes into the battle, their physical attacks stopped having any effect. The blasted bird kept shifting its elemental affinity, so they weren't having much more luck with magicks. Any spell in an element it wasn't currently vulnerable to healed it, so the hunters were inadvertently helping it more than they were hurting it by using magick on it. How did it do that? Status effects weren't working either. He hadn't learned any of the nonelemental magicks that Penelo and Fran had been practicing, so he was at a loss.

Just as Basch landed a good blow with his battle axe, the chocobo got fed up, jumped right over them and charged at the other party members. Ashe took advantage of the unexpected respite by passing out what hi potions and ethers they still had. The Trickster had hurt them nearly as much as they'd hurt it. Monid was really looking worse for wear, and Ashe seemed resentful about having to give him three hi potions to heal him.

Vaan shouted a warning to Penelo as the oversized avian beared down on her. He was a second too late, as it had already walloped her by the time the words were out of his mouth. He kept one of the potions Ashe had passed out back to give to his oldest friend at the next opportunity.

All feelings of compassion she'd had for the Trickster left Penelo when it rammed its beak into her back and knocked her to the ground. She'd be feeling that in the morning for sure. She'd probably have a beak-shaped bruise for weeks. Infuriated, she prepared to cast a Balance spell to get back at the beast. She'd not had much opportunity to use this spell. It was most effective when the caster was seriously injured and using it on the creature that caused the injury. Vaan always said that Penelo was scary when she was angry, and the Trickster was about to find out how true that was.

"Hey birdbrain, have a taste of your own medicine!" she shouted as she unleashed the spell. The Trickster squawked as the spell hit its mark and it wisely decide to attack someone else instead of the angry pigtailed girl. Balthier was ready for it and fired a round of silent shot at it in an effort to stop it from using magick. Penelo lobbed spell after spell at the shimmering white bird, using Bio and Balance interchangeably as Fran let loose a hailstorm of arrows while the chocobo was again susceptible to physical damage. She effortlessly switched back to magic when its paling went up again. Balthier started using Balance motes instead of casting the spell, as he hadn't learned it or Bio yet. Penelo suspected that he'd put more care into practicing magicks after this battle.

A revitalized Monid joined them and got the bird's attention. Penelo gasped in horror as the Trickster unleashed a powerful comet spell on the bangaa, nearly killing him in one blow. The older hunter swore colorfully at the chocobo, which had become immune to physical damage again. Penelo paused to cast Cura on him so that he could continue fighting. He might not be damaging it, but he was a distraction for it while she and the sky pirates used magick.

As the creature weakened under their combined efforts, its paling mysteriously got stronger. Balthier was out of Balance Motes and Fran was in dire need of an ether. It fell to Penelo to deliver the killing blow with yet another spell.

Pouring the last of her magick reserves into a Bio spell, the blond girl lunged forward with a fierce battle cry. She'd had enough of this chocobo! It was quite satisfying when the spell hit home, but she felt a little sad when the creature warked pitifully at her as it succumbed to death.

"I didn't want to hurt you, you know. If you'd minded your own business instead of attacking people, you'd still be alive." She scolded gently to the bird that could no longer hear her. She drank an ether and handed another one to Fran so that they could heal the battered party.

"No wonder that thing was an Elite Mark." Vaan grumbled. "It tore us up pretty good." He sighed in relief as Penelo's healing magic soothed away the worst of his injuries. "I hope Gurdy has a nice bounty for us."

Penelo's back was still hurting from that first blow the Trickster gave her. Magicks couldn't fully heal some injuries; only time could do that. She drank the potion Vaan had held back for her. Potions were sometimes better at healing deep injuries than magic, as they healed from inside the body instead of being cast on the skin. "I hope that bounty is worth my poor bruised spine." She grumbled. She was pleasantly surprised when Ashe offered to carry her pack back up the mountain to lessen the strain on her back. The princess was in a noticeably better mood after the fight, despite being tired. Perhaps the violence helped her work off some stress. In the future, they should just find her a nasty monster to beat up when she got into one of her bad moods.

Monid parted ways with them at the base of the trail up to Bur-Omisace, telling them that he was glad to have been a part of bringing the Trickster down. He relayed a sad story about some friends of his who'd perished in pursuit of the legendary chocobo and thanked them for helping him bring it down.

Vaan offered to give him part of the bounty, but the bangaa declined, saying that being part of the hunt was enough for him.

The exhausted group dragged themselves back up the mountain. Vaan presented Gurdy with a handful of snow white feathers as proof that the Trickster breathed no more. The little moogle squealed in excitement as she accepted the feathers. She handed over the bounty without further comment.

Ashe was pleased with the nearly 5,000 gil they received, but she peered down at the other half of the bounty with a perplexed look on her face. "What in the world is this?"

"Let's get some dinner and take a look at it once we've had something to eat." Balthier suggested. They were all tired and hungry. The Kiltias had set aside a campsite for them and provided food in return for their assistance with the Feral Retriever a few days before.

The sparse stew the Kiltias served up tonight made Penelo long for the Sandsea's fare, but it was free, so they couldn't complain. She cut up one of the fruits they'd won from the mandragora type enemies they'd fought the day before and added it to her stew to add a bit more flavor to it. She couldn't identify the meat in the stew tonight, but figured she'd had worse. One night in Raithwall's tomb, they'd made a bat wing stew seasoned with gysahl greens. It was the nastiest thing Penelo had ever had to eat. The stew tonight was delicious in comparison. The refugees were in for a treat tomorrow once the Kiltias managed to harvest the meat from the Trickster.

Once everyone was done eating, Ashe brought out the urn with the second part of the bounty and broke the seal. She looked inside with a pensieve look on her face. "Is that . . . mud . . . in there?" she queried, moving closer to the fire so that she could see better. She stuck her hand into the earthenware jar and poked at the reddish brown lump of clay at the bottom with her fingers. She withdrew her fingers in fright when a wave of cold terror went through her. "What the?"

"Why would Gurdy give us a jar full of mud as a reward?" Penelo wondered as she leaned closer to look.

"May I have a look?" Balthier asked. The two women passed it to him. He pulled the lump of clay out of the jar and examined it in the firelight, shivering at the effect it had on him when he touched it. Fran pinched off a tiny piece with her long fingernails and actually tasted it.

"I know you're still hungry, Fran, but I think snacking on mud is a bit extreme." Vaan teased. The Viera ignored him and frowned into the fire as she assessed the flavor of the speck of clay.

Balthier was watching his partner intently. "Is it?" he asked. She gave a terse nod in response. Fran was feeling slightly ill from her sampling of the clay, but its taste confirmed her suspicions about it.

"Is it what?" Vaan wheedled, irritated about being ignored.

"This is Deimos Clay." Balthier said, as though that should explain everything.

"What's Deimos Clay?" Penelo asked. She was less than thrilled to get a lump of weird mud as a bounty.

"It's the type of clay they used to use to build prisons in Rozarria." The pirate explained. "Legend has it that builings made of Deimos Clay confine the soul as well as the body."

"Most of the older gaols in Rozarria are said to be haunted by prisoners who perished inside of them." Fran continued. "It is a popular belief that the Deimos Clay bricks they are built with are to blame."

"Well that's creepy. What is it about this clay that makes it do such horrible things?" Penelo thought a prison that trapped the souls of criminals after they died sounded a bit extreme, even for the worst offenses. It made Nalbina Dungeon sound downright cozy by comparison.

Basch shuddered on the far side of the fire. "I toured one of those dungeons during a diplomatic visit to Rozarria before the war. Even the cheeriest person would be depressed after a few minutes in there. The trapped spirits wail in anguish at night. Remembering that horrible place made Nalbina seem more bearable. I don't know how that clay developed such awful qualities."

"The gods supposedly cursed the swamp the Rozarrians used to mine it from in antiquity when they got angry at a witch doctor who lived there. The witch doctor's soul was bound to the swamp for all eternity, never to pass into the next life. The anguish he suffered because of this fate seeped into the very soil" Balthier explained as he put the clay back into the jar. "The Rozarrian monarchy started to use the clay from Deimos Swamp in prison construction a few centuries ago when rumors that the witch doctor's terror of the gods seeped into the very soil of the swamp reached the emperor's ears. He wanted traitors who revolted against him to feel that same terror and to suffer for eternity for betraying him, so he drained the swamp to get to the clay, and used it to build the first Deimos Dungeon. From what I've heard, they used up the last of this stuff about half a century ago and have to use normal bricks or reuse the old ones now. Some collector must have kept this as a sample for the natural philosophers of posterity to study."

"How has it not dried up if it's at least 50 years old?" Vaan asked. "And how in the world did Montblanc's sister get ahold of it?"

"It was very watery when they pulled it from the swamp. Deimos Clay will only harden properly if mixed with another type of clay and fired in a special kind of oven. What we have must not have been mixed with anything else, and the jar was sealed for who knows how long, so it's still nice and moist."

"This is all very interesting, but is it worth anything?" Ashe asked, ever gil-minded. She wasn't at all interested in keeping this item, as touching it made her relive the grief and despair she'd felt at losing her husband, father and kingdom in the span of a few days. She'd hoped to never feel that way again.

"That's debatable." Balthier admitted. Why did people assume that curiosities like this were good bounties for a long day of hunting? "Like the flame we got a while back, the best market for this would be Archades. There's not be enough here to make a single brick for a jail cell, but there's more than enough to study. I don't doubt that we could get a decent sum if we sold it to researchers of one of the Akademies. Like the Horakhty's Flame, I'd suggest not selling it to keep it out of imperial hands.

"The fire's kind of cool and kind of useful at least; this is just creepy." Vaan pointed out. "What did Gurdy expect us to do with this?"

"Maybe she just wanted to get rid of it." Penelo speculated. "The 5,000 gil was a fair bounty. Maybe she just gave us this so that she'd not have to cart it around anymore."

"That could well be." Balthier agreed. "This stuff is a liability. It would be hard to explain if we get stopped at an imperial checkpoint, not that the simpletons in the regular infantry would know what it is. But we'd look suspicious carrying mud around."

"We look suspicious anyway. And we take the Fire with us everywhere already. Maybe we could just hide this somewhere in Lowtown until we figure out what to do with it. I know! I could have Old Dalan hold it for us!" The old man had been thrilled to see a portion of Horakhty's flame and amused himself for an entire afternoon by feeding various substances to it when Vaan left it with him while he was busy with a hunt. Dalan loved collecting oddities and Vaan hoped he'd be willing to hold onto this clay stuff until the party decided what to do with it.

"That isn't a bad idea." Basch agreed. Lowtown residents had so much respect for the old man that no one dared to steal from him. It was as safe of a place as any.

Personally, Penelo wanted to throw the jar and its contents off the side of the mountain into the sea below. It was a little too spooky for her. She was still wondering where Gurdy acquired it, but didn't care quite enough to go find her to ask.

An eerie rattling sound came from Ashe's bag as the moon rose. She opened it and removed the skull they'd picked up earlier that day. Its teeth were chattering. Tonight was just the night for creepy things. Balthier took a handkerchief and tied it securely around the skull's jaw to silence it. The party speculated for a while about just what black mages did with these skulls before going to sleep. They all had unsettling dreams that night.

The next morning, they warped back to Rabanastre, having agreed to Vaan's idea of leaving the Deimos Clay with Old Dalan, if he'd take it, as they all blamed it and the death's-head for their nightmares. They were able to sell the skull to a black mage they met at Yugri's Magicks. The mage refused to answer Vaan's questions about what she would use the death's-head for. Apparently black mages required an oath of secrecy from members of their ranks about things like that. Happy to be rid of one disturbing artifact, the party made for Lowtown to try to get rid of the other.

Penelo was pleased when Dalan was willing to hold the clay for them on the condition that they'd agree to leave the Horakhty's Flame with him for a few days too, so that he might amuse himself by burning up stones and bits of refuse with it. There always was an abundance of garbage in Lowtown. Dalan planned to keep his plethora of war orphan minions busy collecting said garbage for him to destroy with the mythical fire. If the children thought it was strange that the old man was asking them to bring him trash, they didn't say anything about it. Old Dalan was well known for his eccentricities, and if he was willing to give them each a few gil to bring him rubbish, who were they to question it?

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AN: I took some creative liberties with the Trickster battle, specifically how the paling works. Phobos Glaze is up next.

Take a moment to leave a review please! It'd make my day to hear from you. :)

03/01/2015 - I've corrected a few errors in this chapter and added the bit about Old Dalan at the end.


	3. Phobos Glaze

AN:Thanks again to Aramu13 and frankannestein for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter

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**Phobos Glaze**

"That's the biggest turtle I've ever seen!" Penelo shrieked at the sight of the brown and green monstrosity that was the Gil Snapper. It was kind of alarming to see something resembling a walking mountain that moving toward you, regardless of how slow it was moving. Were they strong enough to take this thing down? She had her doubts, even with extra help from the Clan in the form of Bansat.

She sent a Dispel spell the Gil Snapper's way as Vaan, Ashe and Bansat examined the information they could get from the princess's bangle and discussed how best to bring the Mark down. It was very slow-moving, which gave Penelo time to recast her protective buffs and toss a blind and silence spells at it until it was afflicted with both statuses. She wished she'd borrowed the Nihopalaoa from Fran to inflict stats effects more easily because she'd seriously depleted her magic by the time she got the statuses to stick. The turtle waddled on toward them, undeterred by its blindness.

Penelo drank an ether as she pondered who in Ivalice had chained the legs of all the giant turtles they'd encountered. She'd have to ask Balthier and Fran later, since those two seemed to know everything about Ivalice. Bansat launched himself at the Gil Snapper and began to pummel it with his fists. The turtle reared back in fury, trying to kick him, but it missed.

"It's weak against lightening, Penelo." Ashe informed her before joining the fray. She'd been in a much better mood since the Trickster hunt. "Thank you for blinding it." The younger girl thought it was a little strange that a creature vulnerable to lightning would choose to come out of its den only during thunderstorms. She was glad she wasn't wielding a sword or spear or any other metal weapon right now. She focused her energy on casting the most powerful Thunder spell she could on the monster, which was still flailing as the others whacked at it with weapons or fists. Bansat was going to need a Cure on his knuckles when this was over, that was for sure.

Penelo's Thunder spells felt woefully inadequate against such a large foe. She'd never been more thankful for the Storm Staff she'd picked up from that enemy in the Sandsea. Her spells would be truly pathetic without it. She hoped they'd be able to find the Thundara magick soon. Every Magick shop they'd visited on their journeys had been sold out of it. Feeling frustrated with her lack of progress, she pulled out a white fang that Vaan had found somewhere and had given her to use on a rainy day and tossed it at the turtle. She felt more satisfied at the damage it did, but they still had a long way to go. She chucked a few of those weird Knots of Rust at the turtle for good measure. They didn't do much, but it was something.

Bansat had been kicked several times. He lacked the agility to jump out of the way like Vaan and Ashe. Penelo sent a Cure spell his way and recast Protect on him to help sustain him.

The turtle suddenly released a brilliant flash of light, blinding the three assailants closest to it. Penelo dug some eye drops out of her supply bag for the others, as she needed to conserve her magic for attacking. The Gil Snapper used an Esuna-like healing spell on itself to get rid of the status effects that she'd worked so hard to apply.

"Vaan, help me Blind it again!" she called out. It had taken her several tries the first time around, so she figured it would be more expedient to have someone else assist this time. She and Vaan had been practicing Blind and Blindna together in the evenings in his magicks lessons recently, so he should be good enough now to succeed. He shouted his agreement as the Snapper jumped up and slammed back into the ground, releasing a shock wave that brought them all to their knees. The two orphans began hurling Blind spells at it once they were on their feet again. It was a relief when it was blind again.

Penelo cast Balance a few times before healing herself. That was the most damage she'd done in the battle thus far.

Vaan chose that moment to steal from it. "Hey, there was some gil stuck to the edge of its shell!" he hollered in excitement as he shoved it in his bag. Penelo wondered where monsters got gil and what they did with it as she cast another Thunder spell.

The party got a chilly surprise when the turtle hit them with a Blizzara spell. "Silence it, Penelo!" Ashe called out. Penelo reached down to her boot where she kept her old Mage Masher and unsheathed it. She took careful aim, like Balthier taught her, before hurling it at one of the creature's legs. It stuck fast and the turtle let out a brief cry of agony before the dagger's enchantment silenced it. Thankful that her trick worked, Penelo went back to casting Thunder spells. The others went back to whacking it with their weapons of choice, though Bansat was beginning to look tired. He had said back at Clan Hall that he was out of practice, and it really showed.

Penelo alternated between healing and casting Thunder spells depending on the needs of the physical combatants. Her staff wouldn't do any worthwhile amount of damage against that shell, so she wasn't going to bother with a physical assault. The battle dragged on and on and they were all wondering if it would ever end.

"No wonder Nanau didn't want to deal with this thing herself." Vaan commented to Ashe as they took a quick break to recast Protect on themselves. "She wouldn't stand a chance." He wondered how they were supposed to capture the spirit of the beast once it was vanquished. Nanau had indicated that it would automatically go into the prepared urn, but that sounded too easy to be true.

Thankfully the monster didn't cast the spell to remove status effects again. Toward the end, its struggles were so weak that it looked like it had given up. The party kept up the strength of their attacks to the bitter end in case it was a trick. Once it was vanquished, the Gil Snapper faded into a stream of bluish light that surged into the enchanted urn that Vaan was holding toward it.

"So, its soul went in there? Creepy." Penelo said, picking her Mage Masher up off the ground and cleaning it on the grass before putting it back in her boot. "Remind me not to ever tick off Elder Bruona."

"It is pretty spooky what that woman is capable of." Vaan agreed. Elder Bruona was a popular herbalist with the poor of Rabanastre, who often visited her when they were ill, as she didn't charge nearly as much as the city healers. Rumors that she'd once been a skilled warrior and that she sometimes still dabbled in darker magicks abounded. Penelo had never heard rumors of her trapping the souls of creatures before. Perhaps the urn was made of Deimos Clay and they could sell the lunp they'd left with Old Dalan to her so that she could make another one. Penelo was beginning to think that magicks that ensnared souls were far more common in Ivalice than she'd ever realized. It still amazed her that monsters even had souls.

"Let's go get our bounty!" Vaan said. Bansat said he'd just go back to Rabanastre after Penelo cast a healing spell on his bloody knuckles. They rendezvoused with the others on the other side of the makeshift driftwood bridge they'd used to reach the Gil Snapper. Fran was kind enough to heal for Penelo, who'd exhausted her supply of magick and didn't want to squander another ether to replenish it so close to the crystal glade.

Much to their dismay, Nanau and her little brother were nowhere to be found when they reached the spot they'd first met them. All they could find was a scrap of parchment with a note about how they could collect their bounty during the next dry season at the village.

"How rude!" Penelo exclaimed. "After we did their dirty work for them, they could have at least stuck around to pay us!" She'd always liked the Giza nomads before this, but this stunt made her lose some respect for them.

"We need to return here during the Dry to give the elder that ring we wrested from the giant frog anyway." Balthier replied, though it was clear that he was irked as well.

"Now I'm extra glad I swiped that gil from the turtle, so it's not a total loss. What does a turtle need with gil anyway?" Vaan wondered.

It was a very disgruntled group of six that made their way onto the Ozmone Plain before picking a camp site for the night. They made a stew out of Rain Dancer meat seasoned with the few herbs they could find during the rainy season on the Giza Plain. Most edible plants there had a very short growing season at the very end of the rains into the beginning of the dry season. It was too early to find most of them yet. Basch took the opportunity to teach Vaan how to properly clean and debone a fish.

After they ate, Penelo turned to the sky pirates. "Hey Balthier, do you have any idea why those giant turtles we encountered on the Giza Plains have chains on their legs?"

"I haven't the faintest clue. I've been wondering that myself." The pirate replied.

"They hatch with the chains, which grow as they do." Fran replied. "In times long past, the turtles menaced the sentient races of Ivalice the way we saw that one tormenting the Urutan Yensa in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. The gods saw fit to manacle them to constrain their movements to give people a fighting chance against them. The turtles could move much faster before that. The gods thought to even the odds but did not want to eliminate the creatures entirely. Some of them, such as the Gil Snapper, can still be quite a menace if not properly handled. Turtles are very common Marks."

"The Rocktoise we took down in Bhujerba wasn't chained." Vaan commented.

"Owners of domesticated turtles often have the chains removed. Pilika likely had them removed from her pet. Once removed, they won't grow back, much like the docked tails of Archadian Mastiffs." Fran replied.

"Oh." Penelo replied. She was a bit disappointed. "And here I thought some weirdo was running around Ivalice chaining every turtle he could find." This earned her a laugh from the entire group.

"That would be quite a job for one person." Basch pointed out as he tried to imagine how one person could manage to chain even one turtle by himself, much less every turtle in Ivalice.

"It could be a secret society of like-minded individuals. The Noble Order of Turtle Shacklers!" Peneo persisted.

"I suppose people have done stranger things." Ashe allowed, though she clearly thought the idea was absurd.

"I can kinda see Balthier doing something like that when he's old and senile." Vaan teased. Everyone, including Balthier, laughed too. The pirate swatted the back of Vaan's head.

"I suppose the leading man will require some form of excitement in his golden years." Fran jibed.

"My father's been known to engage in stranger behavior than that." Balthier admitted. He dearly wished Cidolfus Bunansa would obsess about something as harmless as fettering giant turtles instead of constantly talking to himself and researching ways to create synthetic Nethecite. "I'm hoping to keep my wits about me long term and not end up like him, though I shall have to keep turtle wrangling in mind as a possible retirement activity."

Penelo giggled at the idea of an older version of Balthier racing around the Giza Plains during the Rains in full Archadian gentry regalia, shackling turtles with reckless abandon. Or perhaps unshackling them, as they were apparently born with the fetters and unchaining them could prove amusing to a senile sky pirate.

The quest continued, and everyone forgot all about the Gil Snapper bounty until they visited Rabanastre again during the Dry. Vaan and Penelo had just left the Horakhty's Flame and Deimos Clay in Old Dalan's keeping when they thought to visit the Giza Plains to collect their bounty.

"Think Nanau will be home?" Penelo asked as she and Vaan went to deliver the urn containing the spirit of the Gil Snapper. The rest of the party was treating themselves to a Madhu tasting in Bhujerba and deemed Vaan and Penelo too young to come, even though Bhujerban law said they were old enough to drink. Penelo suspected the older party members just didn't want to have to deal with a drunken Vaan. He was hard enough to handle after a few cups of weak ale at the Sandsea; he'd be a nightmare if given stronger spirits for sure. Penelo was certain that she was only left out to avoid hurting Vaan's feelings, since she handled alcohol just fine. She doubted they were missing much. Bhujerban Madhu tasted nasty anyway. She'd tried some with Larsa at the Marquis's estate. Neither of them had liked it. Seeing Judge Ghis get drunk and the usually refined Larsa have a giggle fit made the experience worthwhile.

It was hot and dusty on the Giza Plain already even though the wet season had just ended. Penelo found she preferred hot and dry to the cold of the Paramina Rift. Of all the places they'd been so far, she thought Bhujerba had the nicest climate. She and Vaan made quick work of the hyenas they encountered on the way to the nomad village, and Penelo even bagged a Giza Rabbit for their dinner. She used to think the fluffy little creatures were too cute to kill, but she was a changed woman. Keeping something appetizing in the cookpot was a priority now.

The nomads seemed happy to see them, and the children directed them to Nanau.

The woman was in the middle of an argument with her brother, Roaklo, about how much he should sell the sunstones he made for. When Vaan approached with the urn, neither of the nomads wanted to hold it; they were too afraid of the turtle spirit within. Vaan sat it down on the ground in front of them. It creeped him out too. He swore he could feel the trapped soul raging inside of the urn when he touched it.

The mention of the giant turtle launched the nomad pair into another argument about the tortoiseshell comb Roaklo had bought her a few months before. They kept trying to blame each other for the Gil Snapper's appearance on the Plains. Penelo got the sense that this was an old argument they'd already had several times.

Penelo was relieved when Elder Bruona hobbled up to retrieve the urn. She settled the dispute, explained how the magicks that powered the urn had to be recharged periodically with a fresh Rain Lord, and gave the two younger nomads a lecture about how you should not take more from nature than you need and how it was wrong to hunt animals just for loot to sell. That made Penelo uncomfortable, as loot was how the party had been financing their journey for the most part. She supposed that they were really just taking what they needed to accomplish their goals and most of it came from beasts that attacked them first anyway.

Once Bruona had taken the urn away, Nanau handed over the bounty. "Thank you so much for taking care of that for us! You've earned this!" There was a pouch of gil and a little jar with some kind of fluid inside. Nanau didn't bother to explain what it was.

"How much is in there?" Penelo asked Vaan, who took charge of the gil.

"Looks like around 3,000 gil."

"3,000 gil? That's a fortune for the nomads!" Penelo protested. "It feels like too much." She sniffed at the jar full of fluid. "Yech, this stuff reeks!"

"Do you remember how hard that fight was? I'd say we earned every gil." Vaan insisted.

"Did you bring the ring for Elder Bruona?"

"Right here!" Vaan said, pulling it out of his bag. Returning the Ring of the Toad proved to be a moving moment as Elder Bruona reminisced on her ill-fated first love, Sadeen. Penelo had wanted to ask her about the magicks on the urn that allowed t to trap the Rain Lord's soul, but it didn't feel like the right time. She and Vaan dropped by the Cockatrice corral to give Lesina the Errmonea Leaf that Low-chief Sugumu had sent her before heading out onto the Plains to bag a few more Giza Rabbits before going back to Rabanastre.

Vaan took the jar of strange fluid by Old Dalan's place to see if he knew what it was. He was pleased to tell Penelo that it was Phobos Glaze when he returned with it. Neither of them knew whether it was worth much. They'd have to ask Balthier.

The rest of the party returned to their shared quarters in Lowtown in varying states of intoxication. Penelo was glad they'd all warped back to the right place. Using Gate Crystals while drunk was hazardous. Ashe was giggling coquettishly while teasing Balthier about how much jewelry he wore, while he kept trying to hug her. Apparently Balthier was a friendly drunk. Penelo suspected that the princess would be mortified about this in the morning. Fran rolled her eyes at Balthier and Basch shook his head at the Princess's behavior.

"So, we got some Phobos Glaze as part of the Gil Snapper bounty." Vaan began once Ashe and Balthier had settled down to eat the roasted Giza rabbit that Penelo had prepared.

Fran quirked an eyebrow. "Wherever would a desert nomad get that?"

"'Tis a trend in Archades right now to hire the Giza nomads to custom make trinkets to give as gifts or party favors. Someone must have given it to her as part of their payment."

"That'd explain where she got 3,000 gil too." Vaan commented.

"So Nanau went to Archades?" Penelo asked. She couldn't imagine the shy nomad in the capital of the empire. Of course, she'd never thought she'd go there herself either, but that was where they were headed next on their journey. She doubted Nanau did anything as exciting as break into Draklor Laboratories on her trip.

"Is the Phobos Glaze worth anything?" Vaan asked Balthier, who seemed to be sobering up.

"It's worth something for sure. A sculptor would pay well for it. A researcher might too. They're always trying to figure out how to make that stuff again. Then there are always collectors who might buy it." Balthier speculated. He had no idea how much any of these people might pay.

Ashe was still too inebriated to do anything but go to bed after dinner, so they'd discuss what route to take to Archades in the morning. Vaan wanted to go to the Mosphoran Highwaste via Nalbina so that he could meet with a couple of petitioners about marks on the way. The last time they'd discussed it, Ashe and Basch wanted to go up through the Estersand and avoid Nalbina and all the bad memories there. Penelo suspected there'd be quite an argument before they left in the morning.

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Please leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter! I'd really appreciate it.

Fun facts: Deimos and Phobos are the twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology. Deimos is the personification of terror while Phobos is the personification of fear. Deimos and Phobos are also the names f the moons of the planet Mars.

In the final chapter, the party will get the canopic jar itself.


	4. Morbid Urn Pt 1

Well, I couldn't wrap this up in a single chapter, so I decided to add a fifth chapter.

I just started a new job and wrote most of this in the evenings after work. If it feels a little scattered, that's why.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!

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**Morbid Urn Part 1**

"Do you really need to talk to these petitioners today?" Ashe grumbled. "I don't want to go anywhere near Nalbina."

"I second Her Majesty." Basch agreed. "I spent two years under the Fortress; I'm not eager to see it again."

"But these Marks are sure to net us some great gil!" Vaan persisted. He was determined to be the hunter who took down these monsters. He was rising through Clan Centurio's ranks quickly and was very proud of it.

Penelo, Fran and Balthier exchanged irritated looks. The argument had been going on for almost half an hour. The three of them didn't have any strong feelings about which route to take to the Mosphoran Highwaste. Penelo had never been to Nalbina, but didn't think she was missing much. Fran and Balthier weren't bothered by their brief stay in Nalbina Dungeon, as they'd broken out of much nastier prisons than that in their years pirating.

"We'll just have to budget more carefully or sell some old equipment to fund our expedition for now." Ashe snapped. Balthier snorted. Hearing the princess suggest frugality was laughable knowing what a spendthrift she was. She really was determined to avoid the fortress if she was willing to forgo shopping to do it.

"I thought you _needed_ that new helmet in the armor shop." Vaan wheedled.

"Some of these look too tough for us yet, Vaan." Penelo interrupted, examining the bills her friend had brought back from the Sandsea the night before. "You have a Rank VI one in here. Did you mean to grab that one?"

"'Course I did. I'm sure we can take it." Vaan replied, sounding overconfident. His success as a hunter and prolonged exposure to Balthier was making him cocky.

"But the bill says the Mark is in the Nabreus Deadlands. That place sounds too creepy for me." The pigtailed girl whined.

"Nabradia?" Ashe said. "I don't think I could bear to see it as it is now." She shuddered. "To see such a beautiful place destroyed and infested by undead things . . ." her voice trailed off and she shivered.

"You don't have to be in the hunting party for that one. I wouldn't ask you to do that." Vaan cajoled. "But we can totally handle anything that place can throw at us. I know we can. After the Trickster and the Gil Snapper it should be a cinch. C'mon guys, let's get going to Nalbina! Daylight's burning!"

"Does returning to the location of your only experience with imprisonment not distress you?" Fran asked. She was surprised at how eager he was to return to that place. She'd heard him whimpering about Daguza, the crazy Seeq warden of Nalbina Dungeon, in his sleep more than once in the past weeks.

"Nah, it's not like we're going back in the dungeon. That would bother me. The town isn't a problem." The boy replied.

Penelo sighed. Vaan was trying to look as tough and world-weary as Balthier to impress the others. She knew him too well to be fooled by his bravado. "Hey, this bill here says the petitioner is in the Estersand village by the Nebra River! We could all go there and then you could use the Gate Crystal to warp to Nalbina and see the other petitioners. Plus, I could make Semclam chowder for dinner if we go through the Estersand Village." She proposed in hopes of ending the argument.

"We could stay in the village overnight and not have to worry about keeping watch." Ashe piped up, sounding much less hungover than she did a few minutes earlier. She hadn't had a good Semclam chowder in years and was eager to see what Penelo could whip up with the meager ingredients available. Penelo suspected she'd agree to about any idea that could help her avoid going to Nalbina. A night camping on the banks of the river did sound nicer than roughing it in the rocky desert outside of Nalbina town. They still didn't have the gil to stay in inns, not that there were any in Nalbina now.

"Alright, I guess that'll work. " Vaan conceded. Nalbina wasn't his favorite place in Ivalice either. The fact that it was where Reks received his mortal injury upset him more than his brief stay in the dungeon. He'd probably wet himself if he encountered Daguza again, not that he'd never admit that to the other party members. He hoped that visiting Nalbina again as a free manwould help him lay some demons to rest. Perhaps going there would do Basch and Ashe some good if they'd try that.

"Then we're agreed?" Ashe asked the room at large. A chorus of ayes responded.

Before anyone could move, someone eagerly pounded on the door. "Vaan! Vaan! Old Dalan needs to see you before you go!" Kytes shouted from the other side of the door. Penelo opened the door and the excitable boy burst in.

"What's Old Dalan need?" Vaan asked.

"This had best be important. We can't afford to waste time." Basch said sternly. Penelo frowned at him. The knight had certainly wasted enough time earlier arguing about whether to go to Nalbina. She thought about calling him on it, but didn't want to start another argument so soon after resolving the last one.

"Old Dalan has a friend here who wants to buy that weird clay stuff and fire thing you let him borrow." Kytes explained. "You did say you were looking to sell, right? If the right person was interested?"

"Then we'd best all go see him. I want to be sure this buyer isn't just a front for Archadian researchers." Ashe decided. She really was concerned about the strange artifacts they'd found falling into the wrong hands. "We can take the Phobos Glaze too and see if he wants to buy that as well. We'll leave for the Estersand Village straight from there, so everyone gather your things!"

They divided into smaller groups to walk through Lowtown so as not to attract unwanted attention. Kytes and some of the other Lowtown kids joined them just to spend more time with Vaan and Penelo. They still didn't know who the other party members were. They'd kept their identities secret for safety reasons, though Kytes guessed that Balthier and Fran were sky pirates right away.

When they reached Dalan's place, they found him with several guests already. Dalan shooed away everyone but a bespectacled old man with a coarse-looking white beard.

"Thank you all for taking the time to see me." Dalan began. "This is my dear friend, Maechen, who has an interest in the curiosities you brought to me. He makes a hobby of cobbling oddities together to make new oddities."

"I've searched many a year for some Deimos Clay and I'd almost given up hope of ever seeing a true piece of Horakhty's Flame. I've seen some truly impressive imposters, but I've examined your piece and determined that is authentic. If only I had some Phobos Glaze, I could create a truly fascinating piece."

"What do you plan to do with these things if we agree to sell them to you?" Ashe queried, getting straight to the point as always.

"If I can find some Phobos Glaze, I plan to replicate an ancient Rozarrian artifact known as a Canopic Jar. Its like has not been seen in nearly a thousand years." The old man explained.

"How can I know you aren't just a researcher from Draklor in disguise, roving Ivalice for new research material?" The princess asked. The old man seemed harmless enough, but Ashe had heard of researchers disguising themselves and journeying to distant corners of the world to dredge up new research material. "And what is a Canopic Jar?"

"My accent alone should tell you that I'm Nabradian, and I have no reason to love the Empire because of that. I understand your concern, Your Majesty, as these objects could be quite dangerous should they fall into the wrong hands."

Ashe was taken aback that he knew who she was. Few recognized her in anything but an elegant gown. "Do I know you?"

"I don't think we've met officially, but I attended your wedding. I was once young Prince Rasler's instructor in Magicks." He replied. Ashe had thought there'd been something vaguely familiar about him. Now she seemed to remember seeing his face in the hallways when she'd visited Nabradia's Grand Palace so many years before.

"What would this Canopic Jar thing do?" Vaan asked. He figured that anything incorporated Horakhty's Flame had to do something interesting.

"It entraps the souls of creatures in the form of jewels known as arcana. Arcana can form in the presence in Monographs in some circumstances. You may have encountered it before."

Penelo let out a squeak of horror. "That's disgusting!" She ripped the ring she'd made from an arcana and a piece of bronze wire from her right ring finger and threw it on the ground. "You mean to tell me that I've been wearing that poor Lindbur Wolf's soul around as a pretty bauble?" Vaan had found the odd opalescent stone in the sand, along with the Gladius that Penelo often wielded, after slaying the creature. It hadn't been a Mark, but Vaan had heard it was hassling travelers in the Westersand and insisted on taking it down.

"Quit feeling sorry for the Lindbur Wolf. You know it killed the original owner of your Gladius, so it had it coming!" Vaan sniped.

"Is this Arcana stuff useful for anything?" Ashe asked to head off the argument she sensed coming between the war orphans.

"With proper handling, Arcana can be crafted into other rare materials, which can be forged into rare weaponry in turn." Maechen replied.

"So this Arcana stuff is worth having, huh?" Vaan asked. "Maybe we should buy this Canopic Jar thing when you're done with it."

"We haven't agreed to sell the stuff yet, Vaan." Penelo pointed out. "It always amazes me how you manage to spend our gil before we even have it."

Vaan snorted at her criticism. "You have to admit, it sounds cool!"

"It sounds creepy! Here, you can have this back; I'm not wearing it anymore." Penelo scooped her ring off the floor and handed it to her friend.

"I think you're being a little overly sensitive about the whole monster soul thing."

"Saying that a woman is being too sensitive is never a smart move, Vaan." Balthier muttered under his breath. Fran shook her head and rubbed her temples. The Viera did not want to endure another extended argument before noon.

Penelo seemed to swell with anger. "Overly sensitive! Are you kidding? How would you like it if your soul turned into a rock when you died instead of going to the afterlife?"

"Sounds kind of cool to me. There might not even be an afterlife, ya know. Besides, it's monster souls we're talking about, not people souls, so who cares?"

"A soul is a soul, and if the Kiltias religion is right, souls live many different lives, so we could all be monsters in our next lives. Or we could have been monsters in our last lives!" Penelo exclaimed, horrified at Vaan's callousness. That Lindbur Wolf could have been Vaan's brother or one of her parents reincarnated, for all they knew!

"It's much too early to debate religious philosophy, Penelo." Balthier chided in a long-suffering tone. The girl often functioned as the moral conscience of the group, but also triggered more than her fair share of arguments. Balthier was tired of arguments. Could they just get on to Nalbina or wherever already?

"So, Maechen, how much are you willing to give us for these items? We have a jar of Phobos Glaze as well." Ashe signaled Basch to get it out and show it to the old scholar.

"All I can afford is a thousand gil apiece."

"A thousand gil for each of these rare materials? That's absurd!" Ashe snapped. She trusted Maechen not to hand these things over to Draklor, but she wanted a better deal before she let him have them.

"I'm afraid, Your Majesty, that I've not had much in the way of income these past two years, as magical trinkets don't sell like they did before the war. Three thousand gil is absolutely the most I can offer. It is a pity." Maechen shook his head ruefully. "You might do better in Archades or one of the large Rozarrian cities, but no one around here will offer you more; I am sure of it."

Ashe weighed the pros and cons of selling to Maechen. She gestured to the other party members. "We're going to step out to discuss this for a minute." She told the scholar. The party trooped out of Dalan's house after her. They stood in a circle just outside the doorway.

"It's not much in the way of gil, but he seems like a trustworthy buyer. I doubt he'll turn around and sell this stuff to Archadians."

"The thing he's going to make with it sounds wicked cool." Vaan chimed in.

"It sounds creepy!" Penelo disagreed. "Who would buy something like that?"

"I would!" Vaan declared. "That Arcana stuff has to be good for something, plus it's pretty. We could probably sell it to a jewelry shop or something. If we got the Canopic Jar we'd have an unlimited supply of it!"

Penelo shook her head furiously. "I don't like the idea of selling monster souls in bulk." She looked around at the other party members for support and didn't like what she saw.

"We're not in a position to be picky about our sources of revenue." Ashe replied, mouth pressed into a grim line. She'd come a long way from the days just after the war when she'd refused to even consider Mark hunting as a source of revenue. If she had to peddle crystallized monster souls to restore the kingdom of Dalmasca, she was willing to do it. "I'm going to sell the stuff to him."

The rest of the party exchanged skeptical glances, but no one objected. Ashe took the Phobos Glaze and went back inside. She was back 3,000 gil richer a few minutes later. The party exited Lowtown via the old door by South Gate, walked up into the plaza and over to East Gate.

"I still think it's creepy." Penelo griped to Vaan as the left Rabanastre behind.

"Will you let it go? You've got to be the only person in the history of Ivalice to be concerned about monster souls!" the boy snapped back.

"I bet I'm not. Let's ask the Kiltias the next time we're at Mount Bur-Omisace! I bet they'll agree with me!"

"Children, we've had enough arguments for one day." Balthier interrupted before Vaan could reply. The constant bickering had him well on the way to a migraine. Personally, he thought the canopic jar thing was creepy, but couldn't muster the kind of moral outrage Penelo felt over it. After a morning of dealing with the hungover princess and listening to nonstop arguments, Balthier was happy to let off some steam by shooting a fat cockatrice with his trusty gun. The explosion of feathers was cathartic.

Penelo found a cockatrice nest full of rainbow eggs a few minutes later, which did much to restore her usual good cheer. The party had to defeat the enormous mother Cockatrice, a rare subspecies known as the Nekhbet, before gathering the precious food source. Naturally, another argument started over whether to eat the eggs or sell them at the Estersand village. Balthier sat down on a rock and massaged his temples as Ashe made her case for selling the eggs and Basch countered with his argument for eating them for dinner. Apparently Basch really liked the taste of Rainbow eggs and he hadn't eaten any in years, but Ashe still wanted that helmet and they needed to buy some antidotes and potions. That 3,000 gil from the oddities they'd sold that morning wouldn't go far with Ashe in a mood to spend.

Fran passed Balthier a hi potion from her satchel as the bickering continued. A headache wasn't technically an injury, but a potion could help alleviate it. He drank it quickly while no one was looking at him so that he wouldn't cause yet another dispute. He was going to start keeping count of how many arguments the party could have in a single day to entertain himself on the journey. He just wasn't sure whether Vaan and Penelo's continuing debates about the Canopic Jar and monster souls should be counted as a single argument or if he should count them separately.

That Madhu tasting had been a bad idea. Everyone was grumpy today, even Fran and Basch, who hadn't got drunk the day before. Vaan and Penelo were still put out about not being invited, but Balthier stood by that decision. The girl might have been okay, but Vaan could get tipsy off of the small amount of alcohol in a potion. He shouldn't ever be allowed within ten feet of a bottle of Bhujerban Madhu!

Fran picked off a pair of wolves that wandered too close to the party with her Yoichi bow to amuse herself. She went to collect the pelts as the argument about the eggs continued. Rendering wolves for loot was hardly pleasant work, but Balthier decided that assisting her was preferable to listening to the nonsense beside of him. He pocketed the wind stones they found in the beasts' stomachs after cleansing them with a quick water spell. Fran had been nagging at him recently about practicing magicks more often. He wondered why monsters ate elemental stones, magicite, and occasionally even crystals, or if the aforementioned objects naturally grew inside of them. His father had done a cursory study on the subject before becoming obsessed with nethecite, but he hadn't learned anything of substance in the short amount of time he'd devoted to the topic. It was a shame. Cidolfus Demen Bunansa could have contributed so much to mankind's understanding of Ivalice if he hadn't developed his mad obsession with nethecite.

After a long, sweaty trek through the desert, it was a relief to reach the Nebra river. It was in the middle of the afternoon, so the party had time to forage for foodstuffs before making camp. Vaan and Penelo taught Ashe how to dig for Semclams, and Vaan entertained everyone with the story of the time Reks brought him down here and taught him how to find the elusive mollusks. Penelo was a bit surprised that Ashe was willing to do the dirty work needed to get the clams, but she was quite insistent about procuring another source of protein for their supper and selling those eggs they found earlier. The princess flat out refused to eat the Nekhbet meat from earlier partially due to superstition, but primarily because she was sick of cockatrice meat.

Penelo gathered some herbs that grew along the shore for seasoning their food while Ashe bartered with the villagers to trade the Nekhbet meat they'd gathered for a few potions and some non-perishable foodstuffs. The party didn't need both the cockatrice and the clams for their meal tonight, and neither would keep long enough to save them for another day out in this heat, so selling one of them was necessary. The villagers were willing to ignore the superstition about Nekhbet meat bringing bad luck. They were thrilled that someone had felled the feathered menace that had been terrorizing anyone who passed by for weeks. They'd been close to petitioning for a hunt, but didn't have much they could give as a reward. Few hunters would take fish that would spoil by the day's end or a free ride across the Nebra as payment for the grueling work of hunting.

Outside the village, Basch had taken it upon himself to harvest cactus fruit while Balthier and Fran picked off wolves. Vaan found it amusing to watch the older man attempt to steal from the prickly foes. Basch wasn't much of a thief; he'd only recently learned how to pilfer foodstuffs from monsters. Penelo supposed he was too noble to lower himself to thievery in other circumstances, but as the party member who ate the most, he wanted to be able to contribute more to the cook pot. Ashe refused to dirty her hands by stealing things, even if it was just from monsters. When she claimed her aversion was due to theft "not being lady-like," Penelo had almost died laughing. Who would have thought that a woman who was willing to scamper around in the sewers and fight giant flans with a sword would be squeamish about filching food from fiends? At least she didn't mind the rest of the party doing it.

"Hey Basch, should we really be killing these cactoids?" Vaan piped up as Basch got fed up with trying to steal from his spiky opponent and whacked it with his sword. Vaan had had a change of heart about cacti after encountering the flowering cactoid's family a few weeks before.

"I wouldn't have hurt the little pest if it had just let me have the fruit instead of shooting needles at my face. These things are a menace."

"But they have families and look after each other." Vaan countered.

"Wolves and Dire Rats have families too, and you don't take issue with killing them." Basch snorted. "Here Penelo, it had a zodiac gemstone on it." He said, passing a little yellow gem to the girl.

"Ooh a Virgo gem!" Penelo chirped after examining the little symbol inside of the gem. "I don't have one of these yet." She was making a bracelet with the zodiac gems the party found. She hoped to find one of each sign. It was a shame the different signs weren't different colors. It was trendy among young Dalmascan women to make Zodiac bracelets out of gems given as gifts or purchased to commemorate special occasions. Penelo thought such a bracelet would be a great souvenir of her adventures and hoped to find at least one of each stone on their journey. If she was ever desperate for gil in the future, she could sell it. Wealthier women bought complete bracelets in the Bazaar instead of making their own one gem at a time.

"I don't think it's the same at all." Vaan persisted. Penelo suspected that her friend was very fond of Dran the Flowering Cactoid. "They can communicate with humes in ways rats and wolves can't. Heck, they're more civilized than the Urutan Yensa who just indiscriminately kill anyone who gets too close."

"The Urutan Yensa are a good comparison. Remember that your little cactoid friend terrorized the desert outpost so much that Dantro posted a bill for him. His mother isn't much better. She bullied the villagers on the far bank into roaming all over the region looking for her miscreant offspring."

"She was looking for her missing son, like any good mom would!" Vaan exclaimed. "And she gave us a prize for bringing him back across the river!"

"After you killed him and he somehow regenerated." Basch pointed out. Some natural philosopher should look into cactoid regeneration. He suspected the cactoid he'd just struck down for fruit might be up and about again the next morning.

"I wouldn't have done that if I'd known." Vaan insisted. "My cactoid hunting days are over!"

"These little guys pretty much have cactus gangs who shoot people full of needles for kicks!" Basch retorted.

Penelo was inclined to agree with Basch. She'd been terrified of cactoids as a little girl the way most little girls were afraid of spiders after a bad encounter with one during a family picnic in the Estersand. Helping Vaan hunt the Flowering Cactoid had helped her conquer that fear once and for all, but she was still unfond of the needle-covered menaces. She'd plucked enough needles out of Kytes, who sometimes went looking for them in an effort to assemble bundles of needles, to know what kind of damage they could cause if provoked.

Balthier and Fran joined the rest of the group at that moment with a fresh batch of wolf pelts. Balthier caught Fran's eye and held up six fingers. The viera just shook her head in annoyance. Penelo wondered what that was about.

"Shouldn't you be getting to Nalbina, Vaan? It'll be sunset before long." The pirate interrupted before Vaan could counter Basch's point. Ashe gave him a thankful look. She'd heard enough about cacti for one day.

"You're right! Come on Penelo! Anyone else want to come?" The entire group made their way back into the village. Ashe and Basch decided to stay behind to set up camp and start dinner.

"I need to fix dinner!" Penelo protested as Vaan pulled her toward the Gate Crystal.

"But you've never been to Nalbina! It won't take long! And you can buy the cream and butter you need for the chowder there!" He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Oh fine." She huffed, wanting to avoid another argument about Nalbina, even though she didn't want to teleport right now. She was surprised Vaan had any knowledge of what went into Semclam chowder. "Basch, can you start the cockatrice stock and shuck the clams while we're gone?" The knight was the party's second best cook, after Penelo. They had several good cockatrice bones and some skin from the Nekhbet to make stock with.

Basch nodded his assent. He didn't mind helping fix dinner for the rest of the party, so long as he got his rainbow eggs. The argument about eggs had ended with a compromise: Basch could eat three of them and Ashe could sell the other three.

"You'd best go along to Nalbina to keep them out of trouble." Fran murmured to Balthier, who reluctantly agreed. He wasn't in the mood to go anywhere right now, but Penelo could probably use a hand in keeping Vaan from overspending.

The trio marched over to the crystal. Vaan took Penelo's left hand and Balthier grabbed her right elbow just before Vaan touched the teleport stone to the Gate Crystal and the three of them disappeared in a flash of light

"You just made things harder for Penelo." Ashe whispered to Fran. "Now she has to keep them both out of trouble."

The viera stretched laconically before collecting the materials to oil her bow. "But I made things much easier for us for a bit. You know how Balthier is when he's nothing to do." The man couldn't sit still and tended to get into trouble when he was bored, much like Vaan. "I thought the three of us could use a little rest and relaxation."

Basch laughed as he opened another Semclam and removed the meat. "They'll be alright, and Balthier and Vaan know how to escape the dungeon should the worst happen." He didn't think the other half of their party would encounter any trouble greater than Vaan going on a shopping spree in the Jajim Bazaar. He didn't have much gil with him, as Ashe had wisely chosen to keep the main money bag. She busied herself with counting their coins and sorting the day's loot. A merchant passing through bought the day's wolf pelts and some of the cockatrice feathers they'd collected.

"Uuuughhh." Penelo groaned after they reappeared just outside of the gate to Nalbina town. "I'm never going to get used to that." Using Gate Crystals felt like being squeezed through a tiny tube. They were very convenient, but she always felt ill after using them. A person could use them to travel to any Gate Crystal they'd visited before instantly. They could bring several people along with them, even if the others hadn't been to the location in question before. Penelo wished Balthier would just teleport them to Archades instead of insisting that they go on foot. She still didn't understand why they weren't doing that, but didn't want to start another dispute. He'd said something about how the guards at the crystal would be suspicious at so many strangely dressed people appearing in the upscale area of Archades all at once when she'd suggested that idea. Surely knocking out a handful of soldiers in the snooty part of Balthier's hometown would be easier than trekking halfway across Ivalice to sneak in some back way like sewer rats.

Penelo sat down on the ground for a full minute until her nausea passed. She gaped up at the fortress, which was truly impressive. The main part of it had been carved into an existing yardang and covered with a brick façade that was flanked with many outer towers. A waterfall tumbled from the top of the fortress down into a pool into the town below. Maybe the view was worth the trip. Nalbina Falls was one of the few natural sources of water in the Estersand. There had been a settlement here by the oasis since antiquity, long before King Raithwall built the fortress. It had been damaged and rebuilt a dozen times since then, of course, so the current façade was probably very different than how it looked in the Dynast King's day.

As the party approached the gate, airships acting as cranes for building supplies lowered their last loads of the day to the masons below who were busy at work repairing the fortress for their Archadian occupiers. Penelo scowled at the imperial soldiers guarding the gate as they passed. She couldn't see through their helmets, but she imagined that they were scowling right back at her. They had to be roasting in that armor. What was the Empire thinking making them wear something like that in the desert? She wondered how many imperial soldiers had suffered heat strokes during the occupation. Penelo couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for them, no matter how miserable they were.

The Jajim Bazaar wasn't as nice as the Muthru Bazaar back in Rabanastre, but there was plenty for Penelo to look at while Vaan and Balthier spoke with the hunt petitioners. She bought the cream and butter needed for the chowder right away and put them in a bag with some ice stones she'd found in the Paramina Rift to keep them cool. She picked up some other supplies for the chowder as well. It would have been pitiful chowder indeed if she hadn't come to Nalbina for the ingredients she couldn't find in the desert, she supposed. At least these ingredients were cheap.

The princess had decided at the last second to wait on buying that helmet she so wanted because there was a merchant outpost in the Mosphoran Highwaste that was said to carry different equipment than what could be found in Dalmasca and Ashe loved comparison shopping.

Speaking of someone who loved shopping, Vaan had just finished talking to his petitioners and was chatting with the proprietor of Morning Star Gambits. Penelo ambled over to supervise his transaction to make sure he wasn't spending too much gil.

"Look Penelo, they have a gambit for enemies with Oil status now! If we get you that one, you could automatically cast Fira on any enemy that gets oiled. I'm gonna get it!"

Penelo was very familiar with this particular tactic. Vaan always picked out something for her first before buying whatever had caught his eye to begin with so that she wouldn't yell at him as much about wasting gil. She wasn't at all surprised when he added a half dozen more gambits before paying.

"Hey, uh, where'd Balthier go?" Vaan asked as he packed away his new gambits. The two teens wandered around the Bazaar until they found the pirate at a jewelry stand, of all places. He was holding a new silk shirt, probably to replace the one that he ruined during one of their recent hunts. Penelo had tried every trick she knew to get the stains out, but to no avail.

"I'll take those." He said to the merchant, gesturing to a pair of gilded cufflinks shaped like bombs.

Penelo watched in horror as Balthier handed over a thousand gil for the unnecessary trinkets. "Just what are you buying those for?" she squeaked. Somehow it wasn't as easy for her to berate Balthier for impulsive purchases as it was to ream out Vaan for doing the same thing, probably because the former was a grown man. She doubted the princess and Fran would have any such qualms about yelling at him for this.

"The leading man has an image to uphold, my dear." Balthier replied in that debonair way that made other ladies swoon. Penelo had long since grown immune to its intended effect. It annoyed her when he started talking about himself in third person. When she narrowed her eyes at him, he continued, "When you live a life of danger and excitement like I do, you have to treat yourself to some frivolity once in a while. And I did need some new cufflinks to wear with this fine new shirt."

"I wouldn't classify cufflinks as a need. Besides, how do you have that much gil with you? I thought Vaan had all that we brought."

"You didn't think I surrendered all of my gil to the common bag, did you? What kind of pirate would I be if I did something like that?" He chuckled at the appalled look on her face. "I keep a small supply of my own for special occasions. Just be glad that these aren't solid gold. Not that any merchant worth his salt would sell solid gold in a place like this." He might have to stop in at his favorite jeweler in Archades while they were there and invest in a better quality pair. You just couldn't find anything of high quality in these smaller town markets.

Penelo bodily dragged Vaan away from the jewelry booth before he could squander the rest of his gil on an earring or something dumb like that. She grabbed Balthier with her free hand and pulled him along too. "Come on, we're leaving! The two of you have done enough damage to our purse for one day!"

"Yes, Mother." Balthier teased. Vaan burst out laughing. Penelo was the mother hen of the group. He shuddered to think of what kind of things they'd be eating if she hadn't tagged along. He didn't put up a fight about leaving Nalbina.

Balthier wasn't even sure whether to classify the minor dispute over his purchase as an argument for his tally. He'd bought what he wanted and Vaan hadn't got into trouble. He was ready to try this Semclam chowder he'd been hearing about all day. One quick trip through the Gate Crystal later and they were back at the Estersand village. Did this place have a name or were the villagers too lazy to give it one?

Basch had shucked all of the clams for Penelo and had the cockatrice stock ready. The girl put him to work chopping the other ingredients while she prepared the herbs and started combining the ingredients in the pot. She made some croutons to go in the chowder to make it extra filling. Basch cooked his rainbow eggs and ate them while they waited for the chowder. The party had agreed to let him eat more than his fair share because he was still malnourished from his long imprisonment. He was looking better already, but still had a long way to go.

It was dusk and there was barely enough light to see what she was doing, but Penelo managed to fix the chowder perfectly. She informed the rest of the party of Balthier's impulse purchase, which set off yet another argument. Ashe was decidedly unimpressed with the monster-shaped cufflinks. "Honestly Balthier, we could have made some out of those gems Penelo is always collecting!" He brought up some of the unnecessary things she'd purchased in the past to shut her up.

The party members devoured their dinners, knowing that this would probably be the last decent meal they got until they reached Archades. They all agreed that it was the best thing they'd had since Bhujerba. Vaan and Penelo had another spat about monster souls just before going to bed, which sent Balthier into a fit of laughter. If he couldn't stop the arguments, he might as well learn to enjoy them. No one else was amused.

* * *

They'll actually buy the Canopic Jar in Chapter 5. I thought selling the components deserved its own chapter before wrapping the story up. I hope I didn't ramble too long in this one.

I borrowed Maechen from Final Fantasy X.

04/19/2015 update - corrected a small error I made confusing the Wary Wolf with the Lindbur Wolf.

Please leave me a review before you leave and make my day! :3


	5. Morbid Urn Pt 2

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. Work has been consuming most of my energy lately. I hope it's worth the wait.

Note: I went back and fixed some minor errors in the previous chapter. No content changes though.

* * *

**Morbid Urn Part 2**

The party had no reason to warp back to Rabanastre for quite some time after selling the components for Maechen's Canopic Jar. The intervening weeks were filled with adventure, new sights, and, of course, some bickering. Other concerns made Penelo drop the monster soul issue until Vaan brought up arcana again one night by the campfire on the way back to the Phon Coast from Balfonheim.

"Look Penelo, I found another arcana today!" Vaan announced, holding out a small, opalescent stone to his longtime friend.

She wrinkled her nose in response. "Gross. How do those smelly old books you cart around with you make that stuff form?" Penelo didn't know how Vaan could stand dragging his collection of magical, musty tomes all over Ivalice with them. He was going to destroy his back at this rate. Those things were heavy! She kept trying to coax him into selling them for that profit he insisted he'd make, but he refused, insisting that the enchantments on the books would make them all rich someday.

"Quit hating on my monographs! Maybe we could ask Maechen sometime if he knows how they make arcana form." The boy mused. "Speaking of Maechen, do you think he's finished that Canopic Jar thing yet?"

Balthier groaned audibly in anticipation of the argument sure to follow. He'd hoped Vaan would forget about that stupid thing. The pirate had a bad feeling the old scholar planned to charge many times what he paid for the raw materials for the finished urn. He had a worse feeling that Vaan would be the one to pay the price. There was a sucker born every minute, and Vaan had sucker written all over him. The pirate had been trying to curb his supposed protégé's gullibility and teach him to be more skeptical of people, but there was a lot of work left to be done in that department. Balthier wasn't sure he could endure the endless arguments about the ethics of harvesting monster souls that would surely result if Vaan bought the thing, assuming that Maechen was successful in creating it.

"Who cares?" Penelo snapped. "You aren't buying it! We don't need a contraption for crystallizing monster souls. The gods only know how much he'd charge for that thing anyway!"

"It'll be worth it, you'll see." Vaan pouted before stomping back to his side of the fire, the arcana clenched in his hand. Why was Penelo being so unreasonable about this? He opened his hand and looked at the stone that had once been the essence of an especially nasty flan. The shimmering stone was beautiful in the firelight. It was a shame his best friend couldn't see that. He wondered if different types of monsters became different colors of arcana. This one was blue, while the one he got from the Lindbur Wolf was reddish orange. Once he got his hands on that Canopic Jar, he was going to find out.

"That Canopic Jar thing is an abomination, and Maechen is a creep for making it!" Penelo persisted.

"Kids, let's not argue about this again." Basch interjected with a long-suffering sigh. He'd enjoyed the respite from arguing they'd experienced since leaving Archades. There were too many serious things to discuss to waste time quibbling over monster souls and monographs. How best to reach Giruvegan without being captured by an Archadian patrol was the foremost topic of discussion recently. Teleporting to Eruyt Village and heading south into the Feywood made the most sense, but Fran was not welcome in the viera village and did not want to impose further on Jote's chilly hospitality any more than necessary or risk tempting impressionable young Mjrn with more tales of the outside world. As much as the wood-dwelling viera seemed to hate visitors, Basch had been shocked that there was a Gate Crystal at the edge of their settlement. Maybe they'd interacted more with the rest of the world in ages long past.

Penelo had suggested teleporting to Mt. Bur Omisace and travelling west through the Paramina Rift to reach the Feywood through the entrance rumored to be hidden among the frozen crags at the edge of the Rift. Everyone had been surprised that the girl who hated the cold so much would suggest going back there. Basch had a sneaking suspicion that she just wanted the chance to ask the Kiltias about her theories on monster souls. While everyone else had forgotten about the Canopic Jar, Basch was fairly certain that Penelo hadn't. She had these moments in the evenings before sleeping where she looked strangely pensieve, as though trying to unravel one of the great mysteries of life. The only great mystery he'd ever heard her talk about was the thing about monster souls, so he figured that was what she was pondering.

Vaan really wanted to stop in Rabanastre to check in at Clan Hall for more Elite Marks. They didn't really need the gil right now, but it didn't hurt to hunt Marks that were on their way. Basch suspected he wanted to visit Maechen too. It seemed Penelo wasn't the only one still thinking about the Canopic Jar.

The following day, the party reached the Phon Coast. Travelling by foot to the camp had been a compromise. Ashe was too paranoid to use Gate Crystals after the snafu with Dr. Cid in Archades. Reddas had informed them that Archadian authorities were on the hunt for those responsible for Cid's sudden disappearance, and would never accept that he'd departed the capital on his own volition. Avoiding commonly travelled thoroughfares was undoubtedly a good idea right now, even if foot travel was exhausting. Enough people had seen their uniquely dressed group wandering around Archades that someone was bound to recognize them if they took an airship anywhere. Sailing from Balfonheim to Bur-Omisace was out as well, as too many Archadian tourists took that route to visit the holy mountain. Lingering in Balfonheim for a few days had been dangerous enough. They'd have to find a quicker way to travel soon, since traversing half of Ivalice by foot to reach the Feywood was madness. Perhaps it would be wisest to split into smaller groups and travel to the Golmore Jungle via different routes. After all, Archadia was searching for a group of six people, not three pairs of two. Basch would suggest that idea in the morning.

The following morning began with Vaan and Penelo having another quarrel about his monograph collection after the girl refused to cast a cure spell to soothe Vaan's sore back. She insisted that continuing to heal his back aches was enabling his foolish habits and that she wasn't going to do it anymore. After that, Basch had to endure Balthier griping about having another migraine. The knight wouldn't be surprised if he developed a similar headache if the day continued like this. It would seem the momentary pause in the quarreling was at an end. Splitting into smaller groups sounded like a wonderful idea. Everyone agreed to Basch's plan that night, but they'd all travel together to the Hunter's Camp before splitting up.

After they reached the Hunter's Camp, they went to hunt another turtle so that Vaan could join something called the Hunt Club. The princess was supportive of the idea because she was in a sour mood and wanted to beat up a tough monster to burn off some stress. Why was it always a turtle? Basch hated those things. Getting kicked by those enormous shackled legs was bad enough, but most of them could wield magicks too. Naturally, Basch took the worst of the beating the turtle dished out, as he had to get close to the Thalassinon to deal damage with his battle axe. Thanks to the enchanted token the shady bangaas had given Vaan, the creature morphed into a fist-sized trophy shaped like a turtle shell that Vaan could carry back to prove to the bangaas that he'd vanquished it and get a permanent membership in the Club. Penelo had pinched some Adamantite from the beast before its demise, which should sell for some good gil.

"I bet that trophy thing is the monster's soul." Penelo grumbled. It struck her as creepy to collect these trophy things to get prizes from the shifty bangaas back at the camp, but there was no dissuading Vaan, who enthusiastically proclaimed that he'd hunt down every trophy monster in Ivalice so that the party could get the very best prizes. It seemed that offering a prize could motivate Vaan to do just about anything. Perhaps she should come up with a prize to give him if he would get rid of those stupid monographs.

The party split up into three smaller groups after returning to the Hunter's Camp. Balthier and Fran were going to check on the Strahl, which was still parked in the Westersand, Penelo and Basch were going to Bur-Omisace to get an update on the situation with the refugees, and Vaan and Ashe were hitting up Rabanastre. They would all warp to Eruyt Village the following evening, which should give them plenty of time to attend their errands. Fran had begrudgingly agreed to this plan, since the village was a safer regrouping point than the crystal out in the middle of the jungle. It was clear that she wasn't pleased about it. The groups staggered their leaving times to make pursuit more difficult for any headhunters potentially following them.

* * *

Fran was noticeably irritable as she and Balthier chatted with Nono, who was very excited about the new skystone. Moogles were entirely too excitable for Fran's taste. Their squeaky voices rose to frequencies that pained her sensitive ears when they got animated. Nono was especially high-pitched today. Fran was glad when they escaped the moogle, but had no idea what they could do until the following evening.

"We could visit with your family in the village for a while." The Archadian suggested cheekily. Fran nearly slapped him. He knew that Mjrn and Jote were a sore spot for her. She believed that Mjrn would eventually leave the Wood, but hoped her sister would at least wait until she was an adult. Seeing Fran travelling with her Hume friends would only make Mjrn's longing for the outside world grow stronger. Fran was certain that the younger viera was too naïve to survive the treacherous world outside the Wood for now. Mjrn would benefit greatly from the Wood Warder training that made Fran such a formidable warrior before she left home.

A sandstorm prevented the sky pirates from wandering further into the Westersand, so they opted for the Ogir-Yensa instead, as they were too short on teleport stones to warp anywhere else. Fran had been hoping to warp to Bhujerba for a nice dinner, but that wasn't happening now. Balthier really should have held on to more of those stones the way he hoarded a personal stash of gil.

The Ogir Yensa's Urutan Yensa were still stirred up from the party's incursion into their territory from months ago. Fran had never dreamed she'd return here voluntarily. The super fine sand blowing in the air irritated her eyes and it was much too dry for her sensitive skin in the Sandsea. Balthier wanted to try to hunt down a possible trophy monster in the Sandsea since he had one of the tokens the shady bangaas had given Vaan. The boy had to whine for a half hour to wheedle the two additional tokens out of the bangaas, who wanted to keep their club exclusive.

Fran didn't have any better ideas about what to do and preferred wandering in the desert to another awkward encounter with Jote, which would surely ensue if they arrived at the rendezvous point so early. Nono had mentioned a particularly nasty Bull Chocobo that passing merchants had been complaining about and Balthier suspected it would be a trophy monster.

Fran thought it was hilarious that Balthier couldn't see how similar he was to Vaan. They had both been thrilled over the trophy game thing, even if Balthier tried to be more sophisticated about expressing it. At least Balthier hadn't hopped on board with Vaan's Canopic Jar obsession. Yet. Fran thought the thing would be a perversion of nature if the old man was successful in making it. "It concerns me that Vaan and Ashelia went to Rabanastre together without proper supervision." She commented as they crossed yet another bridge between platforms.

"We may be the proud partial-owners of a Canopic Jar by sunset tomorrow." Her partner laughed.

"Surely you do not approve?"

"Not at all. It's too creepy for me. It's too much like something my father would buy and then try to modify to where it would turn human souls into stones. I just don't care to waste my breath bickering about it."

"Understandable, but imagine the arguments that will ensue if they buy that thing." Fran cautioned. They would never hear the end of it either way. If Maechen was unsuccessful in his experiment, Vaan would sulk for days and Ashe would be snappy about everything. If the old scholar was successful, the party would be many thousands of gil poorer and they'd all have to endure Penelo's sermons against the harvesting of monster souls for the rest of the journey.

They found the nasty chocobo just shy of the entrance to the Nam Yensa Sandsea. Traversing the Ogir Yensa was much faster now that they knew their way around and didn't waste hours going in circles or fleeing from Vaan's foolhardy attempts to rob Salamand Entites.

Fran darted in to steal a hi ether from the feathered foe first thing. This would be useful. Someone somewhere needed to figure out how monsters got ahold of restorative items like potions and ethers. The most popular theory was that they burgled their victims, which made sense for the more intelligent creatures, but even dull monsters tended to carry things like potions and antidotes. Did they ever use the items? It sounded like a good topic for some eccentric Archadian akademian to investigate.

Whatever the reason the chocobo had a hi ether tucked under its wing, Fran was sure it'd come in handy. They'd probably encounter some nasty boss monsters in the Feywood, and she could use this to replenish her magicks when the going got tough. The pirates made quick work of the chocobo, which was a weakling compared to the Trickster. By the time they had the Beaked trophy in hand, the sun was setting. They decided to camp in the nearby Yensa Border Tunnel. It would be convenient if they decided to go into the Nam Yensa before warping out of the area the following day. Fran shot a pair of Danbania fish for their dinner before they pitched their camp.

Neither Fran nor Balthier were good cooks, but even they could manage roasting meat over a fire. The result was edible but sorely needed seasoning and unfortunately, Penelo had all of the party's herbs. A few succulent fruits won from the Alraunes they encountered earlier in the day served as a dessert.

The pirates rose early the following morning to follow a lead Nono had given them for a likely trophy monster in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. They were pleased to find that there weren't as many Urutan Yensa patrolling this part of the desert. Perhaps the aggressive little cretins were finally calming down, many months after the party first invaded their part of desert in search of the Dawn Shard. Fran wasn't sure whether she disliked the Baknamy or the Urutan Yensa more. The two races certainly had a lot in common. In both cases, the majority of the race was aggressive and despised outsiders, but they'd met friendly examples of both groups during their journey. Fran could understand xenophobia, as viera children were raised to fear the world outside of the Wood and distrust all who lived in it, but it wasn't like they slaughtered every outsider who dared set foot in the Golmore Jungle. She wondered why the Urutan Yensa were so hostile.

They finally found the Victanir hiding under a Vanish spell in the Yellow Sands region. Fran frowned as she dispelled the monstrous equid's protective buffs. The ability to use such advanced magicks was usually a sign that a monster would be a challenging foe. Balthier used a sword to challenge the beast while Fran hung back to shoot arrows and use her magick. She was pleasantly surprised that it didn't wield magicks in battle or try to recast its protective measures the way many monsters did.

"Use your holy motes!" Fran cried after using Libra to discover that the Victanir was weak against holy magicks . Balthier dodged the giant blade the horse wore as a helm with the grace of a dancer as he tossed motes at it. It was frightening to watch. This monster could easily wound him far beyond her ability to heal him. At one point he jumped close to pull something from the animal's mane. She alternated between firing arrows and launching her strongest spells at it. Balthier managed to dodge the worst of the creature's attacks, so she didn't have to expend any magick healing him. It took a good deal longer than the Bull Chocobo the day before, but they eventually brought it down.

Balthier was pouring sweat by the end of the battle, but seemed to believe that the Maverick trophy the creature became once it was defeated was worth the trouble. He showed her the wargod's band that he stole from the beast during the battle and they pondered over how a monster in the Sandsea got ahold of an old Nabradian trinket.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon hunting Yensas. The fins they collected from the giant sandfish were good eating, and the rest of the party would surely appreciate their efforts if Ashe didn't insist on selling all of them to start replacing the gil she was probably spending on the Canopic Jar at that very moment. By the time they warped to Eruyt Village, they were sweaty, sandy, and exhausted. Fran decided she'd risk Jote's wrath to request permission to use the village baths.

* * *

Penelo hit the ground with a thump as she and Basch reappeared at the entrance to the Kiltias' holy mountain. She still wasn't used to this teleportation thing. Basch assured her that there was a learning curve and that she'd get it soon. That didn't make her bruised knees feel any better right now though. A quick Cure spell set everything to right.

"If you wish to speak with the Kiltias, go ahead. I'll be down at the refugee camp." The older man told her. Basch related to the refugees seeking sanctuary at Bur-Omisace.

"I'll come with you." Penelo chirped. She didn't want Basch to be alone right now. The imperial attack on the refugee camp reminded him too much of the sacking of Landis, which was also led by the late Judge Bergan. Defeating him here had helped Basch deal with some of the survivor's guilt he'd carried with him ever since escaping Landis. "We'll help out for a while and go talk to the Kiltias later."

Out of all the party members, Penelo felt she knew the least about Basch. He was the strong, silent type taken to an extreme. You just couldn't get the man to talk about what was bothering him, no matter how badly it was eating at him. Some of it was easy enough to guess, she supposed. He probably felt like he failed his homeland, lost his brother's allegiance to the enemy empire, failed Prince Rasler and his king and failed Reks and the other men he commanded that terrible night. He'd spent two years in a living hell called Nalbina Dungeon and lost his good name for a crime his twin brother committed. It hadn't helped that Ashe had persisted in her belief that he was a traitor for weeks after reluctantly allowing him to join the party.

Penelo wanted to tell him that none of those things were really his fault. They could all be laid at the feet of Archadia and Vayne. None of those bad things would have happened in Basch's life if Vayne weren't so determined to expand the Empire. She'd like to tell the knight as much, but never could find a good way to bring it up. He had too much pride to speak of the burdens he carried in his heart or to share them with anyone else. While she admired the inner strength he must possess to have endured all of that and keep his sanity, Penelo had a feeling that keeping it all inside might be hurting him more in the long run. She resolved to be the best friend she could to him. She could continue to heal his injuries in battle, help him practice his magicks, and she'd be a listening ear if he ever needed one.

The two of them cast Cure spells on some of the refugees that hadn't fully healed yet and helped the Kiltias ladle out the day's meager stew at dinner time. Perhaps they could hunt some game in the morning to help the Kiltias out. The watery stew could use all the help it could get tonight.

Just before the sun set, Penelo approached one of the older Kiltias to ask her questions about souls and reincarnation. They hadn't picked a new Gran Kiltias yet, so she just picked one who looked wise and hoped for the best. Of course she didn't get a straight answer. The man summoned several friends and they gave her long and detailed explanations of three different theories about reincarnation held by different groups in the Kiltias faith, as well as explaining other theories held by other religious groups. As a whole, the Kiltias didn't believe in permanent souls that lived many lives, but rather that each life lived had a causal effect on future lives, like one candle being used to light another. Several other faiths in Ivalice did believe in a permanent soul that reincarnated many times instead of each soul going to a permanent afterlife after dying, like the Archadians believed.

It was all very confusing, and part of Penelo regretted asking. She wished Gran Kiltias Anastasias was still alive. He would have surely foreseen her question and could have dreamed up a way to give her a clearer answer. The monks seemed impressed that such a young person was asking about such deep issues, and they agreed with her that the Canopic Jar was an abomination. Whatever arcana were, the Kiltias were sure that they should not be manufactured in large numbers. Even base, violent monsters should be allowed the release of death at the end of their lives. They couldn't tell her anything about arcana or how it might be produced naturally.

Basch was entirely too amused at Penelo's confusion when she told him what she'd learned by their campfire later that night. "You should have known there wouldn't be a simple answer. With religion, there never is."

"I get the feeling they don't believe in giving yes or no answers." The girl griped. "I think they enjoy confusing people."

"Even a straight answer wouldn't dissuade Vaan or Her Majesty now. They're committed to this idea, for better or for worse." The knight shook his head and sighed. "We just have to pray that they don't spend too much gil on it."

"You're probably right, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Indeed you do not, but I suggest making the best of the situation." Basch replied, hoping to persuade his young comrade to not continue starting arguments about monster souls.

"How would I do that?" Vaan and the princess were about to squander a massive amount of gil to buy a means to harvest monster souls. Penelo couldn't see a positive about that.

"We can always hope that the Canopic Jar will be a lucrative investment, even if it is creepy. And we can be thankful that there is still hope for restoring Dalmasca and that everyone our party is still alive." He suggested.

Maybe this was how Basch got through so many hard times. Penelo liked to think she was a naturally optimistic person, but his ability to see the good in things like this stupid Canopic Jar really amazed her.

The following morning went down into the Rift to hunt for meat for the Kiltias' stew. It was colder than usual and Penelo was miserable. They hadn't found any monsters that would make palatable stew meat yet. The white wolves endemic to the area were tough and stringy and no method of cooking could make their meat tender. They were heading back to the mountain with nothing but a few succulent fruits stolen from Wild Onions to show for their efforts when Penelo saw two hulking shapes moving around in the distance.

"What in Ivalice are those things?" Penelo asked Basch.

"They look like those headless creatures from the Cave Palace, but it's far too cold for them here."

"Let's keep moving." Penelo shivered. She didn't want to deal with gross things like headless monsters in near blizzard conditions.

It was too late; the monsters were headed right toward them. "Use the Nihopaloa and get as many status effects as possible on them!" Basch shouted. One was blue with deformed, useless wings, while the other was a poisonous shade of green. Both were carrying giant swords. Basch determined that the green one was considerably weaker and he decided they should kill it first. Penelo equipped the Nihopaloa and chucked a remedy at the blue monster, which immobilized it. She tossed a handkerchief curative item at the green creature to inflict Oil status before she started hurling fire spells at it. It shrank down into a trophy that sank into the deep snow when defeated. Basch must have brought one of those tokens Vaan got from the Hunt Club with him.

They repeated the same strategy on the tougher blue monster, which took considerably longer to bring down. Penelo went through several remedies to keep it immobilized for the duration of the battle. Basch stole a lump of Damascus Steel just before dealing the killing blow. He scooped the oddly shaped trophy that the first monster dropped out of the snow since Penelo didn't want to touch it.

"You needn't be so squeamish about these trophy things. They aren't arcana." The man chuckled.

"It's a similar concept. If what Vaan's Clan Primer says about creatures like that is true, they used to be humes like us, or something close to it. They were tortured with poison until they turned into monsters and then beheaded! They should be allowed to die and go on to whatever comes next, like the Kiltias said, not kept as an inanimate trophy for eternity!" Penelo ranted.

Basch put his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "Alright, alright. You don't have to touch it." He was ready to get on to Eruyt. After they dropped the fruit off with a Kiltias, he changed the subject to how to use Gate Crystals without slamming onto the ground at the destination, which kept his companion's mind off of monster souls and trophy game until they reached the Gate Crystal. They warped to Eruyt, with Penelo landing gracefully for the first time thanks to Basch's tutelage.

A freshly bathed Balthier and Fran were seated by the Gate Crystal, negotiating the sale of some desert loot with a moogle merchant who'd taken up residence at the village entrance. Basch and Penelo joined them and were pleased to hear that they had the elder's permission to use the bathing facilities. Baths were too few and far between on this journey.

* * *

It felt good to be back in Rabanastre, even if only for the night. Spending time one on one with Ashe was nice too. She was out of his league, but Vaan had been harboring a small crush on Ashe ever since he caught her when she jumped down to him in the sewers the night he broke into the palace. That had been an eventful night. Now he was walking through the Bazaar with the rightful Queen of Dalmasca as a comrade and equal. He'd never dreamed his life could be this exciting. He was a rising star among Mark Hunters, had become a skilled fighter, had more gil than he'd ever had in his life, and had personally met several world leaders. He was also on a quest to save Dalmasca and the world from Vayne Solidor's wickedness. This was better than any of his old sky pirate daydreams. He could always fall back on those once the world was saved.

Ashe proposed that they check in at the Clan Hall before anything else. She had come to enjoy Mark Hunting and was eager to pick up bills for more Elite Marks. She hadn't been pleased to find that several of the recent ones involved going into old Nabradia, which was now infested with Baknamy and the undead. Montblanc only had one new bill for a creature called the Belito located in the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Something about it felt a little fishy to Ashe, especially with that Hunter Stalker character running around. The Nam-Yensa was so remote that it would be the perfect place for an ambush. Vaan went ahead and signed on, but told Montblanc that they might not be able to go for a while. They'd have to confer with the other party members before they went after this thing.

The orphan and the princess shared a solid meal at the Sandsea and even splurged on nicer fare than the cheap stew they usually picked. They had over a quarter of a million gil on hand, so they felt they could spoil themselves a little. Going to Archadia had been good for their purse, if nothing else. They retreated to the Resistance headquarters to spend the night. They'd find Maechen in the morning.

Vaan persuaded Ashe that visiting Dalan first would help them find the Nabradian scholar faster, as Dalan always knew where everybody was somehow. Vaan wondered if the old man had known that the Princess had been alive all along and living in Lowtown right next to them and had just never mentioned it. He wouldn't put it past that crafty old codger. It was before dawn, but Vaan didn't think Dalan ever slept and was sure he'd be up and waiting for them.

He was right. "Ah, Vaan Ratsbane visiting me with the Queen of Dalmasca. Have you perhaps come searching for my dear friend Maechen?" Dalan greeted them. He was straight to the point today instead of rambling like he usually did.

"We are. Do you know where we might find him?" Ashe replied.

"He's set up a little booth on the edge of the Bazaar next to Vaan's old friend Gatsly."

Ashe bowed to the old man. "You have my thanks, Dalan of Lowtown." She and Vaan took their leave of the old man and made for the Bazaar.

"Is your surname really Ratsbane?" Ashe queried as they walked through South Gate.

"Nah, Old Dalan just started calling me that after I started training against Dire Rats in the sewers with Reks's old sword. It sounds kind of cool, but I think I'd rather be Vaan Dragonsbane or something like that. My family's real surname was lost because my dad's parents died when he was still too young to learn it. I might adopt a new one someday, who knows."

It was a foreign concept to Ashe that someone could go through life not knowing their rightful family name. All her life, her bloodline and her last name had formed most of her identity. It was both a burden and a privilege to be born into House Dalmasca. She'd never put much thought into what life might be like for commoners before losing her kingdom. Masquerading as Amalia had taught her a lot, but she'd still been detached from the everyday life of the Dalmascan people living at the heart of the Resistance like that. It seemed she had a long way to go if she wanted to learn how to truly relate to her people. Perhaps she should start spending more time with Vaan and Penelo and see what they could teach her.

Maechen was quite pleased to see them. He was sitting at a tiny booth full of odd objects. It didn't look like anything was selling, which made Vaan wonder how he afforded the high rent for even a tiny space in the Bazaar like this. A reddish brown urn with black script curving around its sides caught his eye almost immediately. He couldn't read any of the words and was not surprised when Ashe identified the writing as ancient Rozarrian runes. The top of the urn was shaped like the head of a wolf-like monster with its jaws wide open. When he peered inside, Vaan could see a bright orange flame burning at the bottom of the urn.

"Am I correct in assuming that your Canopic Jar experiment was a success?" Ashe asked.

"Indeed, my lady. A similar piece has not been seen in over a thousand years. The last one known to exist had quite a shady history. Would you like to hear a story?"

Ashe sighed. She remembered Rasler complaining as a boy about how his magicks instructor's stories were interminable and usually very boring. "We'll pass on the story. We've a lot to accomplish today. Are you looking to sell?"

"Indeed. It can be yours for only a half million gil."

"500,000 gil?" Ashe screeched. People nearby turned and stared at them.

"Does it even work?" Vaan asked. Balthier's lectures about not blindly trusting people were finally taking root. If they were going to invest so much in this thing, they needed to make sure it did what it was supposed to do.

"In theory it should." Maechen replied. "I quadruple checked every calculation and researched every step meticulously."

"You can't expect us to buy something like this without trying it out." Vaan persisted. "What do you say you let us give it a trial run before we buy it."

"We can leave something valuable as collateral." Ashe hefted the Zodiac Spear off her back and showed it to Maechen. "This is the legendary spear of House Nabradia. You can hold onto it while we take your urn out on a test run." Ashe had agreed to join the party on a hunt in the decaying palace of Nabudis so that she could find and claim this weapon, which was hers by right as Rasler's widow. The fact that she was willing to let Maechen hold it demonstrated an uncharacteristic level of trust. Of course, if the old man made a break for it, no one he tried to sell the spear to would ever believe it was the real thing, as it was believed destroyed in the nethecite explosion that wiped Nabradia from the map.

Maechen's cloudy eyes grew comically wide behind his spectacles. "I never thought I'd see this again." He whispered reverently as he took hold of the spear. "It's a deal. Take the Canopic Jar out to the Estersand or the Giza Plain for a few hours. I'd avoid the Westersand were I you, as I hear there's a sandstorm brewing there."

Ashe took the urn and made for the Giza Plains. Vaan wondered if there might be any trophy monsters out on the plains. He struck down a Hyena and was pleased to see a distinctive pearly stone appear beside of its body. Ashe decided to stash the urn in her pack to see if it'd still work. A Giza Rabbit was the next unfortunate creature. Vaan could almost hear Penelo screaming at him in the back of his mind as he picked up the pink stone the bunny's soul became. He and Ashe wandered for the next hour, collecting arcana and other loot before coming upon the Nazarnir, a much tougher version of the Sleipnirs that could usually be found near the path to the Ozmone Plain.

"I bet that's a trophy monster." Vaan said, fingering the token in his pocket. "Let's get it!" Ashe was one step ahead of him, sword drawn and already charging. Vaan put Penelo's lessons to good use and cast a Dispel on it before joining the fray. They spent the next quarter hour beating the horse-like creature down. Vaan snatched a Destrier Mane from it before it fell. Sure enough, it turned into a trophy upon defeat. Vaan stashed it away in his bag. They didn't get any arcana this time, which disappointed Vaan. He'd been looking forward to seeing what kind of arcana a trophy monster would become. Hyenas became dull brown arcana, Giza Rabbits became pink arcana, Urstrix made orange arcana and Werewolves made black. It looked like his theory about different monsters producing different colors of arcana was right.

After a couple hours of experimentation, the pair decided to head back into town to haggle with Maechen over the price. They didn't have half a million gil on hand, so he'd have to come down some if he wanted to sell to them.

They were pleased to find the elderly scholar right where they left him, still examining the Zodiac Spear. "Well, it works!" Vaan told the old man, holding out a handful of the arcana they'd collected for him to see.

"I am glad to hear it. Are you interesting in purchasing my masterpiece now?"

"We are." Ashe replied. "But you're going to have to come down on the price. I don't have half a million gil with me." A better part of an hour was spent haggling, with Maechen refusing to go below 250,000. Ashe eventually agreed to that price, if only to keep the Canopic Jar out of more sinister hands. It hurt to count out 100 thousand gil coins, but she managed.

"Penelo's gonna freak." Vaan mumbled to the princess as they strolled through the Bazaar with their purchase. He wasn't looking forward to telling the rest of the party how much the strange urn cost. Maybe he'd let Ashe deal with that. While he was still excited about the Canopic Jar, he had a sinking feeling that they'd been ripped off. Balthier would probably rip into them both, as he wasn't as shy about telling the princess off as the other party members. Vaan could imagine the scornful looks Fran would give them for weeks after. Basch would just look disappointed, which would be worse than Penelo's shrieking somehow.

"Let them freak out all they want." Ashe said in her I-am-the-Queen voice. "Purchasing the urn was my prerogative. If Penelo wants to shout at someone about it, let her shout at me." She knew full well that the younger girl would never yell at her, no matter how unhappy she was about the Princess's decision to spend so much gil. They had a late lunch at the Sandsea before heading to the Gate Crystal. Ashe wisely abstained from buying anything else, though she spent several minutes gazing longingly at a shiny new shield displayed outside of the armor shop as they passed.

When they arrived in Eruyt Village, they found the rest of the party camped close to the Gate Crystal. Ashe took the Canopic Jar and proudly set it down in the middle of the group with a smug look on her face, as if daring the others to challenge her decision.

"And just how much did that cost?" Balthier asked testily, green eyes sharp.

"Only 250,000" the princess replied as though she'd paid only a tenth that.

"A quarter of a million?" Penelo squeaked. Her face turned white in shock, and Vaan was a little concerned that she might faint.

"He wanted 500,000, but we haggled him down." Ashe said proudly. It wasn't long ago that haggling had been a foreign concept to her. She was pleased that she'd got the price down by half.

"It would have been a rip off at 25,000." Balthier snapped. "It's not good for anything and it's creepy besides!"

"He's right, you know!" Penelo chimed in. "Why'd you have to go and buy that thing?" She glared at Vaan.

"It isn't useless." Vaan defended. He got out a handful of the arcana they'd collected. "See, we've collected tons of arcana already! Isn't it pretty?"

The girl snorted. "I'm not a silly child who can be distracted with pretty baubles, Vaan! Of all the dumb ideas you've ever had, this has to be the worst!" Honestly, how could he and Ashe ever think this was a worthwhile investment? They could have fed everyone in Lowtown for years with what they'd spent on that thing.

"It wasn't his idea." Ashe replied quietly, moving to stand between Vaan and Penelo. As predicted, the orphan girl backed down immediately, unwilling to chastise her rightful queen. Balthier was another story. He fussed and scolded until he was red in the face, not that Ashe cared.

"You sound just like my father." Ashe retorted blandly once the pirate was out of words.

"Perhaps the arcana is worth something, at least." Basch finally spoke up, hoping to find something redeemable in this unfortunate situation. "We could ask that merchant over there." He suggested, gesturing to the moogles huddled by the Gate Crystal.

"Good idea!" Vaan agreed. "We need to buy some antidotes anyway." He hurried over to the merchant, happy for a reason to escape Fran's derisive glares, if only for a minute. He pulled out the pouch he was storing the arcana in and let the curious moogle examine the contents.

"What lovely stones." The merchant squeaked. "I've never seen the like! I don't usually buy pebbles, but I'll give you 200 gil for the lot."

Vaan wrinkled his nose. "But there's twenty of them here. Can't you do a little better?" Vaan wasn't great at math, but even he knew 200 gil for twenty arcana came out to a measly ten gil each.

"It's five times what you'd get for the normal pebbles monsters carry around." The moogle sniffed. "Take it or leave it."

"I think I'll try selling them in a city." Vaan decided. "I'm sure the merchants there will see their value. It's your loss."

"Shiny stones are still just stones." The merchant snapped back. "It's not like they're good for anything."

"Didn't Maechen say they could be refined into materials used in special weaponry?" Ashe, who'd joined them in the middle of the exchange, queried. "So they aren't totally useless."

"Yeah, let's hope so. It'll take us forever to make our gil back at ten gil per arcana." The boy shook his head in frustration as they made their way back to the makeshift camp.

"That's 25,000 monsters!" Penelo shrieked. "Nobody can kill that many!"

"Would you rather the Jar be in Archadian hands?" Ashe chided. She was having a serious case of buyer's regret, but shuddered at the thought of something like this in enemy hands.

"What's done is done." Basch intoned. "There's no use crying over spent gil."

Much to Vaan's surprise, Penelo didn't lecture them about monster souls that night or the next or the night after that. She even offered to carry the arcana in her pack. She had to be up to something, but what could it be?

Vaan didn't find out for a couple of weeks, until one night when he woke up to relieve his friend on watch. Penelo was crouched on the far side of the fire, whacking something on the ground with the hilt of her dagger as hard as she could without making a lot of noise.

"What're you doing?" Vaan asked as he sat down beside her. A blood red arcana was lying on the ground in front of her.

"Trying to free this monster's soul." The girl hissed. "I've tried burning it, putting it in that gross, corrosive yellow liquid stuff we got from fighting flans, pounding on it with a rock, and whacking it with my dagger, but nothing's worked so far. It looks so delicate, but this arcana stuff is tough" There had to be a way to destroy this stuff, she just hadn't found it yet.

"Quit trying to bust up my arcana!" Vaan snapped, trying not to raise his voice. "I thought you were over that monster soul nonsense."

Penelo glared at him. "It's called having a conscience, Vaan. You should try finding yours sometime."

"Why can't you just let it go? I thought the Kiltias weren't even sure about the monster soul thing." Vaan grumbled.

"Well, I'm sure about it, and they thought the Canopic Jar thing was a perversion of nature too!"

A loud snorting sound interrupted them before Vaan could reply. The two Rabanastrans turned in unison to investigate. The rest of the party was sleeping peacefully around the fire. The princess, who had a cold at the moment, let out another great snore as she turned over in her sleep.

"Gods, she snores louder than a 300 pound seeq!" Vaan snickered. Penelo giggled. She never thought Ashe could make such an uncouth sound, even in her sleep. The red arcana glimmered on the ground forgotten as the two friends shared a laugh at Ashe's expense.

Over the next few days, Vaan and Penelo hammered out a truce to agree to disagree about the arcana, with Penelo promising to cease her lecturing about the morals of harvesting monster souls and to quit trying to destroy the arcana and Vaan agreeing to abstain from using the Jar on certain types of monsters (like Giza Rabbits) and to quit using it entirely at the end of their journey, whenever that was. He couldn't get her to agree to stop bashing on his monographs and refused to sell them to appease her as part of the deal. The rest of the party was just happy about the reduction in the bickering, though Fran still cast reproachful looks at Ashe and Vaan periodically that they were fairly certain were related to their big purchase.

* * *

AN: My interpretation of the Kiltias religion is loosely based on Buddhism because the Gran Kiltias reminds me of the Dalai Lama. Buddhism's teachings on souls and reincarnation are complicated and I didn't feel competent to give more than a cursory explanation here. Google it if you're curious.

I hope you enjoyed the conclusion of my little story. Kindly leave me a review to let me know what you thought.


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